New Paltz, NY — Home field advantage is on the line for the State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team Friday, as it hits the road to take on Catskill Cup rival SUNY Oneonta.
 
The Red Dragons (10-5 overall, 5-0 conference) are the only undefeated left in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) with the Hawks (9-5, 4-1) coming off their first conference loss of the season against SUNY Geneseo. 
 
"Since it's a SUNYAC game on Friday, we know it is going to be a really tough game," said SUNY New Paltz freshman goalkeeper Ryan Dowling. "Oneonta is going to be a great challenge for us so we're looking forward to getting home field advantage." 
 
Dowling has played two of her best games of her young Hawks career in the cage, initially putting up a season-high 15 saves in a 2-0 loss against the Knights, before surpassing that mark with 17 saves in a 1-0 win over Stevens Institute of Technology Tuesday night.
 
Although the Hawks defense has stepped up in their last two games, their offense has sputtered. Against SUNY Geneseo, they recorded a season-low two shots against and was shutout for the first time all season. Getting the ball from within their defensive end and up the field was stressed all week in practice to help facilitate more offense.
 
"Coming off two defensive performances that were pretty strong, we're just trying to keep the same strength [defensively] and make sure we can work the ball up on transitions, so we can get some attacking going too," Dowling said. "Some things coach [Shanna Szablinski] is emphasizing is definitely our transitions, making sure we can get the ball up the field quickly and efficiently, and making sure our attacking positioning is exactly where it needs to be on the posts with our sticks down."
 
SUNY Oneonta is heading into the match up on a seven-game winning streak, including 9-1 and 2-1 victories over The College at Brockport and SUNY Geneseo, respectively.
 
The Red Dragons have withstood heavy pressure in key matchups against the Knights and defending SUNYAC champions SUNY Cortland to stay undefeated in conference. In those two wins, they were out-shot 59-13, but still came away on top.
 
On the season, SUNY Oneonta has averaged nearly four goals per game, while allowing less than two goals against, including just five in five games played in conference.
 
Allyson Wells leads the team offensively with 14 goals and five assists, while Danell Jones has started 14 games in the cage and totaled 76 saves with a .760 save percentage.
 
"We know they have a really great offense, so our defensive effort needs to be huge so we can shut them down and get the goals going," Dowling said. "We watched a lot of film on their attacking corners and we know that those are one of their strong points, so defensively we just have to shut them down and make sure they can't get the ball in the cage."
 
With SUNY Geneseo falling to SUNY Cortland Wednesday, the Hawks can clinch the No. 1 seed by simply defeating the Red Dragons Friday.
 
"Since we lost to Geneseo, we know we want to give Oneonta a loss too. It's really just adding fuel to the fire, making sure that we can really score some goals and keep strong defense," Dowling said. "I definitely think we can beat Oneonta. They're a great team, but so are we. So it is going to be a good game on Friday."

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