As the winter teams look to finish their seasons in the coming weeks, the spring teams at SUNY New Paltz look to start their seasons strong. Men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball, and baseball all had varying degrees of success last spring, but this season they hope to either continue that success or elevate to a higher level.
Unfortunately, the men’s lacrosse team has come out of the gate with a loss against Kean University. They traveled to Union, New Jersey for their season opener on Feb. 22, losing 22-8. Last year, the men ended their season with a 5-10 record and missed out on the postseason. Despite this, there is still faith in the team’s ability to show what they can do.
“This year’s group is more athletic and more physical than we have ever been. We have a lot of guys who are comfortable on both sides of the ball, so we’re looking forward to using this to our advantage and pushing it in transition. We are going to play to these strengths on the defensive side of the ball as we have the ability to put the ball on the ground both in settled situations and in the ride,” said second-year captain Aidan Harrington. “Offensively, we still want to play smart and limit our turnovers, but we aren’t going to shy away from early initiations, especially when we have favorable numbers and matchups.”
Women’s lacrosse will have their first game against Skidmore College on March 1. The team was supposed to begin their season on Feb. 22nd at home against Utica University, but the game was postponed due to weather and moved to March 4. Last season was a big year for this team, as they earned a 14-4 record and made their first semifinal appearance in program history before falling to SUNY Geneseo.
“Making a semifinal for the first time in program history last year was an amazing experience and we took a lot away from it. We gained a tremendous amount of confidence from making it so far and really set a new expectation for the program going forward,” said head coach Randy Vite. “I believe that experience is the best teacher and having that experience last year has made us hungry to be back there this year. I believe we will have a new sense of composure and discipline this year, especially in those big games moving forward.”
The baseball team saw a tremendous amount of success last season. On top of an impressive 31-16 overall record, the men secured their first SUNYAC title in program history and demonstrated amazing skill during their appearance in the NCAA Division III Championships. This season, the team is looking to continue building on that.
“I feel optimistic. We have a lot of returning players, but we do have to replace a lot of essential people. Those players provided a generous amount of leadership,” said head coach Thomas Seay. “That’s probably the biggest piece of the team we need to fill. We have a lot of positional pieces coming back and I think we did a nice job of taking advantage of the transfer portal.”
Baseball fell in both games in their doubleheader matchup against DeSales University, 7-6 and 17-10, respectively. The team will have their next competition against Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham on Feb. 28 in Teaneck, NJ.
The softball team is also looking to repeat their success from the 2024 season, where they took home the SUNYAC championship and made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. The team begins their season on Feb. 28, when they will travel down to Rutgers-Camden in Camden, NJ for a doubleheader.
The teams roll into the spring season with high hopes, great expectations and look to bring home a lot of victories by the close of the semester.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.