NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – On Tuesday evening a pair of unbeaten teams will put their unblemished records on the line when the State University of New York at New Paltz women's lacrosse team travels to Montclair State for a 7 p.m. non-conference game at Sprague Field. RECORDS: New Paltz enters the contest with a 3-0 record… Montclair State has a 7-0 record.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS (3-0): A stingy New Paltz defense limited a high-scoring Kean University team to just eight goals, half of its seasonal scoring average, en route to an impressive 12-8 road victory last Tuesday… With the victory, New Paltz improves to 3-0, its best start since the 2011 team began the season 5-0… Junior midfielder
Carissa Citro had five goals, which tied her career high, set against SUNY Potsdam in the 2012 season... Citro added two assists and a team-high five ground balls... Senior attack
Talia Tesler had four goals…
STATISTICAL LEADERS: Tesler leads the team and ranks first in the SUNYAC in goals per game averaging 4.43 while junior midfielder
Lianne Valdivia ranks fourth with 3.67 and Citro ranks sixth with 3.00… Citro, Tesler, and Valdivia ranks second, third, and fourth in the conference, in points per game… Citro also ranks third in the conference with 2.33 assists per game… Citro and junior defender
Julia Johnson make up the conferences top three in groundballs per game averaging 4.67 and 4.00 respectively… Junior goalkeeper
Jackie Ulanoff ranks fourth in the SUNYAC in saves per game with 7.33.
TEAM STATISTICS: Offensively, New Paltz ranks first in the SUNYAC in shots per game (35), shots on goal per game (27.33), woman-down goals per game (0.67), and woman-up goals per game (1.67)… New Paltz ranks third in the conference in goals per game averaging 14.00 and fifth in assists per game with 4.67… Defensively, the Hawks rank first in ground balls per game averaging 30.33 and second in caused turnovers per game with 10.67.
SCOUTING THE RED HAWKS (7-0): The Red Hawks are among schools receiving national votes in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) national poll… Montclair State remains undefeated after beating Farmingdale State 15-13 on Thursday, March 20… Junior midfielder Jenna Bussiere scored six goals while senior midfielder Kelly Schoneveld contributed four goals.
STATISTICAL LEADERS: Bussiere leads Montclair in goals per game (3.33) while junior attack Tierney Conlon ranks first in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) averaging 3.33 assists per game while also averaging 6.33 points per game… Sophomore goalkeeper Alexandra Tepper ranks third with a .587 save percentage while averaging 7.83 saves per game.
TEAM STATISTICS: Montclair averages 16.17 goals, third best in the NJAC… The Hawks average 7.17 assists per game, second best… With 142 ground balls (23.67 per game), the Hawks lead the NJAC.
LAST MEETING: New Paltz lost to Montclair 18-6 on March 22, 2001.
WHAT'S NEXT: Both teams will return to action on Saturday, March 29 as New Paltz will travel to Buffalo, NY to compete in their first SUNYAC game against Buffalo State at 1 p.m. while Montclair will head to Madison, NJ to take on Fairleigh Dickinson-College at Florham at 11 a.m.
COACHES: New Paltz is led by head coach
Liz Student, in her third season… MSU is directed by Nicol Parcelluzzi in her eighth season as head coach.
