Another historic season has come and gone for the womens’ New Paltz Lacrosse program. Between a back-to-back win against Oneonta, our infamous conference rival, and making it to the postseason SUNYAC tournament, it’s safe to say that the term “rising program” no longer suits this hard-working team.
Despite how hard they worked, the team faced some hardships and struggles toward the end of their respective seasons. Maybe it was from stress due to finals, or the fact that they’ve been training since the fall and were experiencing some burnout, but the Hawks were not living up to their own expectations and took to the field nervously for the last few games of the 2022 season.
After their victorious week of beating the Red Dragons on Wednesday, April 20 and crushing the Buffalo State Bengals on Saturday, April 23, our Hawks were fired-up and ready to take their expected win against the Plattsburgh Cardinals the following Wednesday with swift and ease. Once there, they were met with a team who is fighting hard in their developing-program stage, and came out of the game with a three goal loss. A frustrating battle, but the Hawks never fail to come out of every game with multiple highlights. They outshot the Cardinals 37-26, and had them crushed in ground balls, caused turnovers and draw controls. Unfortunately, the only other category they couldn’t beat them in that game was goals in the back of the net.
In typical Hawk fashion, they kept their heads up and continued to work after a disappointing loss, knowing that they always have the next game to try again. Our girls hit the road again that Friday to take on the Geneseo Knights, a game they knew they were going to have to give absolutely everything they had for. With many of their opponents players having been D1 recruits in high school, and with them having a 22 person-deep bench compared to the Hawks six, they were definitely anxious about the match-up, but still came out swinging off the opening draw. They managed to put the first goal of the game in the back of the net with draw-control queen, third-year midfielder Shannon Brosnan grabbing the ball straight out of the air, running it herself all the way down to the eight meter arc, drawing a shooting-space call and ripping a free-position shot that gracefully grazed the back of the net.
Short lived victories from the Hawk’s were no match for the fast, athletic ability of the 2022 Knight’s roster, not to mention the high-energy excitement from the Knights due to it being their senior game. Our girls walked away from their turf with a 15 goal loss, but hope was not yet lost. At the end of the game, it was announced that the Hawks had made sixth seed in the SUNYAC playoffs, and were advancing to play in the quarterfinals against Brockport. After the disappointing score against the Golden Eagles earlier this season, the Hawks were looking forward to the chance to make-up for their loss and prove who’s boss.
Three days later, the Hawks were on the road again to Brockport, ready and fired up for the intense re-match. Similar to the game earlier in the season, our girls came out determined off the opening draw, with Brosnan again getting scrappy with the ground balls and coming up with a clean possession. She passed the ball off to fourth-year attacker Maddy Carullo, who assisted first-year attacker Alyssa Indelicato with her beautiful low-angle bounce shot. However, for the rest of the game, the attacking end struggled to put the ball in the back of the net, and with defense struggling to clear the ball after second-year goalie Hailey Aber made countless incredible saves, the lack of Hawk possession inevitably lost them the game.
In any case, the girls on the 2022 Hawk roster still have a lot to be proud of. With a season full of career highs, record breaks, and program firsts, our girls are fully prepared for next season, where the Golden Eagles, the Lakers and the Red Dragons all watch their backs.
