Box Score

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's lacrosse team fought a hard battle against State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) and Catskill Cup rival SUNY Oneonta but would end up dropping a 15-8 decision to the Red Dragons in its home finale on Tuesday afternoon. With the loss, New Paltz trails Oneonta, 22-20, in the 2015-16 Catskill Cup standings.
 
The Hawks drop to 3-12, 0-7 SUNYAC and will close out their regular season against SUNY Cortland on Saturday, April 30 at 12:30 p.m. The Red Dragons rise to 6-9, 3-4 SUNYAC and will face SUNY Geneseo in their regular season finale on Saturday, April 30 at 1 p.m.
 
New Paltz was hot out of the gates in the start of the first half as junior midfielder Alexa Criollo (Queens, N.Y./Forest Hills) broke open the scoring off a feed from junior attacker Melissa Wagner (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley). Sophomore attacker Caitlyn Morris (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) scored a goal off a Criollo assist to put the Hawks up, 2-0, before Criollo added another goal at 22:49 to make it a 3-0 game. Junior midfielder Nicole Gottschalk (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) capped off the Hawks' run at the 18:10 mark, netting an unassisted goal for a 4-0 margin.
 
Oneonta rallied with four unanswered goals, including back-to-back goals by freshman attacker Kelsey Cohen, to tie the score but Criollo found the back of the net at the 3:48 mark to give New Paltz a 5-4 advantage at intermission.
 
Coming out of the break, the Red Dragons fired off five consecutive goals to take a 9-5 lead. Morris scored an unassisted goal with 19:24 left on the clock to trim the deficit to 9-6, but sophomore attacker Jaime Morris and freshman attacker Allison Butler each added a goal shortly after to extend the Red Dragons' lead to 11-6. New Paltz made it an 11-8 game as sophomore attacker Kelsey Aeberli (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick-Valley) found the back of the net off an assist from Morris before Gottschalk broke through the Oneonta defense after winning the draw to net an unassisted goal. However Oneonta would take home the win, scoring four unanswered goals to provide the final 15-8 tally. 
 
The Hawks held a 9-6 advantage in free-position shots and carried the ball well in transition, going 11-for-15 in clear attempts, but Oneonta held an edge in ground balls (27-23), draw controls (15-10), and shots (34-25).
 
Criollo keyed the New Paltz offense with three goals. Gottschalk recorded two goals and three draw controls for the Hawks, while Morris also had two goals and Wagner tallied two assists. Freshman midfielder Rachael Purtell (Minetto, N.Y./Oswego) caused two turnovers and won two draw controls while Aeberli also totaled two draw controls.
 
For Oneonta, sophomore attacker Taylor Casey paced the Red Dragons with four goals and three assists, while Butler added three goals and went 2-for-3 in free-position attempts and senior attacker Catherine Clark also chipped in three goals. 
 
Junior goalie Colleen Roemer (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) made 12 saves in the loss for New Paltz and scooped up eight ground balls, while freshman goalie Jaclyn Marry made 16 stops in goal and picked up seven ground balls.