Box Score

CORTLAND, N.Y. – Senior forward Danielle Conklin (Suffren, N.Y./Suffren) scored a goal and added two crucial assists to lead the State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team to a 3-1 victory over SUNY Geneseo in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Field Hockey Championships on Friday afternoon in a game held at SUNY Cortland. The contest was delayed 90 minutes due to snow and inclement weather, which persisted throughout the contest.

The No. 3 seeded Hawks, who captured the 2012 championship over Cortland, 2-1, in a shootout, will meet the No. 1 seed and host Red Dragons, a 2-1 overtime winner over SUNY Oneonta, in the SUNYAC final on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The winner of Saturday's contest earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championships.

Conklin had a record-breaking afternoon. She eclipsed the single season program record in assists as she notched her 10th and 11th of the season that breaks the former mark of 10 assists shared by herself and Sarah Schloss who set the mark in 2009. Conklin also bettered the program's career points record, upping her career total to 80. Schloss set the former standard from 2007-10.

Conklin scored the game's first goal at 28:07, following up an initial shot by freshman midfielder Colleen Roemer (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) that was saved by Geneseo's goalie Danya Mercer. Conklin, however, took the rebound and slid it into the left side of the goal for her 23rd of the season and a 1-0 New Paltz lead at intermission.

The Hawks would strike again, just minutes into the second half, when sophomore forward Dani Ackerman (Nesconset, N.Y./Nesconset) scored the eventual game-winning goal for New Paltz, her 17th of the season, from the right side and off a feed from Conklin at 38:07.
Geneseo fought furiously to get back into the contest and got within 2-1 when Sarah Malinak earned her 21st goal of the season off an assist from Bridget McGovern at 49:51.

The Hawks capped the game in the 57th minute when senior midfielder Lauren Link (Hauppauge, N.Y./Smithtown West) put New Paltz ahead 3-1. Link connected on a long blast through Mercer's pads following a penalty corner. Conklin earned her second assist of the game on the score.

Senior goalie Antonija Pjetri (Suffren, N.Y./Suffren) kept the Hawks in the game throughout, making seven saves in the contest, six of which came in the first half. Mercer made six saves for Geneseo.