With a new coaching staff in place, it's a fresh slate for the State University of New York at New Paltz women's soccer program.

First-year coach Mike Eckberg, who recently served as the assistant women's soccer coach at Towson University, will help guide the Hawks to a bounce-back season after they finished 1-15-2 last fall.

However, his focus this year is not necessarily on wins and losses, but level of play throughout games, practices and training.

"Ideally, I think what we want to focus on as much as possible is creating the best process and not be so driven or focused on results, but focus on what we can control in training, focus on what we can control in the weight room and focus on our controls," Eckberg said.

The returners have already seen Eckberg's positive influence since he was brought in this past spring. They hope with his direction, along with the addition of assistant coach and head SUNY New Paltz women's lacrosse coach Keith Detelj, the Hawks will build toward a positive 2017.

"When coach Eckberg came in in the spring he was just really ready to turn this program around," said senior forward Danielle Grossi. "Even when we're out here, he's jumping in to plays and he's showing us what we should be doing. He is fully engaged with us, and to have coach Keith jump in as an assistant this summer really from the start he's adjusting to exactly how we are and he's such a great coach too."

"I think our main thing is our intensity and work rate," added senior defender Julia Friedman. "When Coach Eckberg came in he set a new tone for us, so that is something that each practice we're coming out here and making sure that when we're doing our individual work each of us are working hard to the highest intensity that we have. I think that is something that each day we're going to do. That is something we can control. We can control our work rate and our attitude, so that is something that we are going to do."

Grossi and Friedman will lead an experienced group, which returned 11 players and boast nine seniors on the team.

Along with Grossi and Friedman, Eckberg credited a bulk of his players, new and old, who have come in focused on improving and working hard each day.

"I think in addition to other seniors and other players, freshmen and incoming players, I think there has been a core group that has come back very excited, very hungry, equal to Julia and Danielle," Eckberg said. "It is really exciting to see how this core will continue to develop and continue to grow."

"Adaptability" and "coachability" are two components Eckberg has seen from his team over the course of the preseason, and added his group has adjusted well to his coaching philosophy. 

"They are soaking everything up, which is great," he said. "Something that we want to emphasize as much as we can is that we can't control the situation, but we can always control the response in every situation."

SUNY New Paltz had a productive preseason and even earned a 2-0 win in its first scrimmage against Marywood University on August 25. Alicia Fanni assisted Kaitlyn Connolly on the Hawks' first score, and Raven Blake picked up the assist on Grossi's goal to cap off the game.

Additionally, SUNY New Paltz earned four corners against the Pacers and did not give up any on its defensive end. The Hawks hope their work in the offseason will carry over as the regular season gets underway.

"Even since the spring, it's been a really, really high intensity right from the second we start practice to the second that we end,"

Grossi said. "We're sweating, we're heavy breathing the whole time – that's what coach loves to hear he said – so we're really working hard. Everything that we do is game oriented, game speed, so it is very high intensity, high tempo, high play whether we're in practice, scrimmage, everything that we do."

SUNY New Paltz kicks off its season this weekend, traveling to Alfred University to take on the Saxons on Sept. 1 and University of Rochester on Sept. 2 before returning home to face Ramapo College of New Jersey on Sept. 6.

The Hawks' first conference weekend is on the road against SUNY Oswego on Sept. 22 and SUNY Cortland on Sept. 23. 

"I'm just hoping to leave here knowing that we put everything out there on the field and we stayed connected as a team [and] that we held strong and no matter what, we want to get wins in, but most importantly that we're staying together and working as a unit."



To see the SUNYAC women's soccer preseason coaches poll, CLICK HERE.