The women’s soccer team grabbed their first win of the season this weekend, beating Manhattanville College 1-0, while losing to Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus 0-1 in a double overtime stunner.
The Hawk’s moved to 1-6 for the 2018 campaign. The weekend marks their last set of non-conference matches before State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play begins this Friday, Sept. 21 against SUNY Fredonia.
“I felt overall on the weekend, the way they responded on Sunday showed improvement,” said Hawks head coach Mike Eckberg. “I felt as though they were better psychologically, physically, technically and tactically as well. As the game went on Sunday, they got better and better.”
With either team only getting one shot on goal in the first period, most of the second half remained scoreless as well. Racking up four corner kicks in the second, New Paltz stayed persistent and attacked the goal.
At 76:31 in the second half, fourth-year midfielder Raven Blake found the back of the net on a ball by third-year forward Nicole Sheintul to put the Hawks up 1-0. On the offensive side for the rest of the match, New Paltz sealed the deal for their first win of the year.
Although earning the win, Coach Eckberg and his team were not happy with their performance.
“I think we’re all a little disappointed with the product that we put on the field Saturday,” Eckberg said. “There are high expectations for our program and for our team. I think we grew frustrated, and that frustration turned into external versus internal.”
Attempting to keep momentum on their side, the Hawks entered Sunday looking to stay in the win column against Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus.
Contradictory, New Paltz found themselves on the defensive side throughout most of the game. In the first half, the Devils out-shot New Paltz 9-2, and 11-2 in the second.
Despite being out-shot by Fairleigh Dickinson, only four of those shots in both periods found the net. The Hawks 10 fouls within the match, however, proved to hurt their offensive effort enough.
Remaining scoreless throughout the entire match, New Paltz was able to power through the first period of overtime. Four minutes into the second period, second-year goalkeeper Megan Tornatore’s eight saves could not complete the win, as second-year midfielder and forward Amanda Croce put one past her for the Devils to steal the match 1-0.
“It’s never fun being on the losing end of a game like that,” said fourth-year forward Rachael Purtell. “It left us with a healthy amount of frustration that we can carry throughout the week at practice and into our opening weekend of conference play.”
The Hawks are staying as positive as possible through this rough opening stretch of their season.
“Considering this is my last year playing with them, I want to enjoy every day I get to spend with my teammates,” Blake said. “My expectations for this season are to take what we have learned in trainings and non-conference games, and apply them in our conference games.”
New Paltz returns to action Friday, Sept. 21 when they travel to SUNY Fredonia. They will play Buffalo State the following day on Sept. 22.
Editor’s Note: Tayler Crower contributed reporting to this piece.