The men’s soccer team won two of their three games this past weekend, stomping SUNY Potsdam 4-0, while edging out Plattsburgh State 1-0 and falling to William Paterson University, 4-2.
On Friday, Oct. 12, the Hawks took to the pitch for their last two-game State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) weekend of the season.
Asserting their dominance early, the Hawks scored at 9:39 on the tenth goal of the season by second-year forward Kevin Doorley. Just seven minutes later, New Paltz padded their lead on a goal by fourth-year midfielder Sebastian G-S Archer, assisted by first-year midfielder Nicholas Honor.
New Paltz finished off the Bears in the second on two more goals by Doorley at 71:24 and 80:07, assisted by fourth-year forward Manny Flory and fourth-year midfielder Victor Lifschitz respectively.
With his two second-half goals, Doorley completed his first hat trick as a Hawk.
“[Scoring my first collegiate hat trick] was a great feeling,” said Doorley. “I had a lot of chances and probably should have scored more, but we did well as a team to create a lot of chances and kept a clean sheet.”
The Hawks came out victorious 4-0 holding Potsdam to a single shot on goal, outshooting them 19-6 all while amassing six corners to the Bears’ one.
“We did extremely well this week defending as a team, and especially off of set pieces,” said Doorley. “We dominated in the box and that’s what wins you games in the SUNYAC.”
The following day New Paltz was back at it against the Plattsburgh Cardinals.
In a scrappy defensive battle that saw 28 fouls and a pair of yellow cards, the Hawks were able to get the lone goal of the day on the third goal of the season by New Paltz third-year defenseman Luke Dole.
“Our ability in the air and ability in the box improved significantly and were key reasons why we won both games,” said Hawks head coach Kyle Clancy. “I was proud to see the improvement from the team and especially from our center backs Luke and Seb and our goalie Marc.”
Following the weekend, the Hawks then headed home for a match against William Paterson University.
New Paltz was out from the beginning, as William Paterson put three in the net before the halftime whistle.
The Hawks would fight back in the second half, however, with a pair of long shots by second-year midfielder Ryan Martinez and third-year midfielder Coltan Goodwine at 57:55 and 78:21, respectively. It would not be enough, as New Paltz fell by a score of 4-2.
With their two big conference victories this weekend, the Hawks improve to 10-4-1 on the season (5-2-1 in conference) currently placing them fourth in the conference with 16 points, behind Cortland (18), Brockport (17) and Oneonta (17).
“Last week was tough with both games going into overtime,” said Hawks fourth-year midfielder Khalil Scott-Ludewig. “But I think the major thing that changed was our hunger to win and we showed how much of an impact we can have in the SUNYAC.”