The State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team played a pair of games this past week, falling to both SUNY Geneseo and Kean University, dropping their season record to 8-5.
On Saturday, Oct. 12, the Hawks matched up against SUNY Geneseo at home where they had their first SUNY Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) loss, keeping Geneseo’s SUNYAC record perfect. Both teams battled it out, but the Hawks could not overpower the Knights.
The Hawks had a very strong first half, with third-year forward Carly Croteau scoring the first goal of the game at 5:35. The Knights did not answer until the second period, when second-year midfielder Jordan Penkitis tied the game 1-1 at 20:56. Both teams battled it out and the score remained tied until the third period, the Knights’ third-year forward Erin Nolan found the net at 46:00 and pushed the score to 2-1. Seconds later, the Hawks answered and first-year forward Jamie Wagner had a nice shot bringing the score to a tie once again, 2-2.
With less than six minutes left of play, the Hawks missed three corner shots and left the door open for the Knights who capitalized, tacking on one last shot at 54:40 to come out on top 3-2.
“I think we needed to be a little more organized all over the field playing team defense and also capitalizing on our opportunities in the attacking circle,” Wagner said.
Three days later, New Paltz took to their home turf again to face Kean University. The No. 11 seed Cougars swept up their 15th straight win against the Hawks. Wagner was the first to score, finding the net in the first period at 9:37. After that, the Hawks remained scoreless. The Cougars were quick to answer, putting a goal on the board at 11:23. They tacked on two more goals, not without a good fight from New Paltz.
The Hawks put up 17 total shots, 11 on goal, while the Cougars put up 12 shots, with 11 of them on goal. In addition to out shooting the Cougars, the Hawks also had the upper hand on corners, with eight corners to the Cougars four.
After facing two tough losses, the Hawks will head on the road to play Saturday Oct. 19 at Morrisville State and look to tuck another SUNYAC win under their belt.