Box Score New Paltz – It was two years since the State University of New York at New Paltz women's soccer team had won two games on its home field, and on Friday, in just its sixth game of the season, the Hawks (3-3) walked off with their second home victory and third of the season after handily defeating John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 8-0.
 
"To put out an 8-0 win is really big for us," said SUNY New Paltz senior midfielder Gabriela Cabello. "It kind of gives us the confidence to come in tomorrow and really stick it to the team. We have big energy coming with us now and tomorrow should be good competition."
 
With coach Mike Eckberg at the helm this season, the Hawks have already shown immense improvement from year's past, as this victory matched SUNY New Paltz's win total from the last two season's combined.
 
"We talk a lot about taking it to the next level, and I think we're at the point in our season that we will need to strive for the next level as we get prepared for conference [play]," Eckberg said. "We certainly have to focus on tomorrow at this point as we move forward, but I'm very pleased. The girls are responding and that is something that we talk about."
 
SUNY New Paltz dominated possession and tested Bloodhounds goalkeeper Kelli Doherty (10 saves) early and quite often, tallying an astounding 29 shots on goal and 18 on target.
 
"I think there was moments today that we were excited about," Eckberg said. "Collectively not as a whole, but I think there was individual performances, some decent combination play at times and again, we're just trying to as much as we can to put this together. In terms of building the attack, combining and changing the point, trying to be as much as a two-dimensional team in our attack as we can."
 
Rachael Purtell, in her first start at forward since making the transition from goalkeeper, got the offense started for the Hawks in the fourth minute of action.
 
After getting her initial goal called back because of off sides, SUNY New Paltz mirrored the same exact play about 30 seconds later, as Cabello ran onto a ball down the right flank and centered her pass to Purtell, who buried her first career goal.
 
John Jay played a high back line to start the game, causing three off side calls on the Hawks in the first half. But SUNY New Paltz made the necessary adjustments, as it doubled up on its lead about 20 minutes later. Cabello found space again down the right sideline, beat her defender and then Doherty for the goal.
 
"We were able to adjust well," said Cabello. "We were able to find a lot of space along the sideline and we were able to get those services in, as well as forward movement to create opportunities for other people to finish."
 
Nicole Ferro, who was cleared from injury just three days prior, tallied her first goal of the season in the 34^th minute to push the Hawks lead to three at the break. For good measure she added another about 10 minutes into the second half. She ran on to a ball played through, took a touch past her defender and tucked her shot neatly into the near post.
 
"It was pretty cool. I haven't scored a goal in a couple years now. I just got back yesterday, so it was really awesome to find the back of the net. You just got stay composed," Ferro said. "We were combining up top and really opening our eyes and seeing the green on the field and field the back of the net. We had a lot of energy up top and started from the back, go up through the middle and really made it happen in the end."
 
Cabello put away her second of the day in the 71^st minute to push the score to 5-0, and Jackie Donaldson-Hawkins piled on five minutes after. Danielle Grossi notched SUNY New Paltz its seventh goal on a breakaway and Alicia Fanni put the final exclamation point on the win, firing a shot 10 yards outside the box off the bounce into the top left corner to solidify the 8-0 rout.
 
"I think it was something we needed. To be able to win today gives us that energy and that confidence," said Ferro. "Especially we had struggled with finishing, getting eight goals today is really something that give us that extra energy to come back tomorrow and compete."
 
Cabello led SUNY New Paltz with two goals and an assist on the day, while Ferro notched her two scores off the bench. The Hawks defense did not allow a shot on net the entire contest.
 
"It's a big confidence booster, as well as a positive energy booster so we can keep your head up and play," Cabello said. "It was important to play a full 90 minutes, because we need to keep that tempo and keep it our own, so it didn't shift toward the other team, and for us that was really important."
 
The Hawks will try and take their momentum into their game against Manhattanville College Saturday where they will look to remain undefeated on their home turf. The game is set for 4:30 p.m. Follow @nphawks on Twitter for live updates and highlights.