Box Score New Paltz, NY – In her 10 seasons coaching the State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team, coach Shanna Szablinski was never more confident going into a game. Despite the lack of experience, touting six freshmen along the starting lineup, Szablinski didn't have any doubts her Hawks were walking away from the North Turf Field Saturday with anything less than a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championship.

SUNY New Paltz (12-7 overall) resiliently came back from an early goal deficit, made the necessary adjustments and anchored down defensively to knock off SUNY Cortland, avenging last season's title game loss, to claim the program's fifth SUNYAC title with a 2-1 victory. 

"That's the thing. After last year's loss that was tough. We lost very badly and it's in the back of your mind, but with a new team, I knew going into this I told them I never felt so confident in my entire career just because of the way we conduct ourselves in training and the way we carry ourselves," Szablinski said. "Our focus and vision was always clear from the start. I have an awesome, amazing team and they get it. Our alumni helped us with that as well. They told their stories and I think that motivated our team to get that title back. So, there was a lot that played into it."

The Red Dragons (13-6) held the early advantage, scoring just more than three minutes into the contest. SUNY Cortland did its best capitalizing on the counter attack, running down field with numbers, which resulted in the opening goal.

Molly Quinlan dribbled into the circle and got a shot off that hit off the shoulder of SUNY New Paltz goalie Ryan Dowling, but Jess Gibaldi was there to clean up the rebound and put her team ahead, 1-0.

"Since Cortland came out so fast and hit us with that goal pretty quick, we all just took a second, took a breath, calmed down a little bit with all the hype of being in the championship and just recognized that we just have to play our game," said Dowling. "That is what we did for the rest of the game and we came out on top."

The Hawks defense never got flustered and responded by shutting down the Red Dragons offense for the next 66 minutes, as Samantha Ackerman, Kayla Ahern and Maggie Cottrell did an excellent job containing SUNY Cortland's attackers and limiting any type of counter attack on the defensive end.

"They adjusted, corrected and did a good job of making sure that there was more depth defensively," Szablinksi said. "They do a lot of slip passes with the overlapping forward coming in and they did a good job of picking that off."

Kaitlyn Gunter then knotted up the game for SUNY New Paltz with an outstanding individual effort. Gaining a pass from Carly Croteau, Gunter dribbled her way inside the circle, split two Red Dragon defenders and reverse hit her shot into the corner of the cage for the goal.

"KG she is just smooth," Szablinski said. "She did a great job of possessing the ball and creating attack. Her one-v-one duel mentality is just to go to goal and she doesn't care who is in her way. She did a great job of creating those opportunities and capitalizing on it as well."

SUNY New Paltz carried over its momentum into the second half where it garnered more chances than the Red Dragons on the offensive end after getting out-shot in the first 35 minutes.

Gunter again came up with the big play with 20 minutes left in regulation. Following a corner by Ackerman, Gunter garnered possession on the far side of the circle, beating her defender and sending a dangerous pass in front of the goal that found the stick of freshman Jackie Kanapes, who deflected the attempt in the back of the cage for the go-ahead score -- and her first collegiate goal.

From there, the Hawks defense was forced to take over. Ackerman came up with a huge defensive save midway through the half on a Red Dragons break away to keep her team the lead. SUNY New Paltz was then hit with a yellow with less than 15 minutes remaining in the game and was forced to play a man-down, but the defense stepped up once again and didn't allow a shot in the stretch.

SUNY Cortland had a few dangerous opportunities was time winded down, earning four consecutive penalty corners in the last six minutes. Again, the Hawks defense stayed composed and anchored down, allowing just one shot, which was saved by Dowling, in the stanza to keep the, 2-1 lead.

"When they had those four corners in the end it was super intimidating because corners are a huge scoring opportunity for the offense," said Dowling. "But Courtney [Kruzikas] is super fast, Jess [Ascencao] gets out there and Sam [Ackerman] and Kayla [Ahern] have my posts so well that we know we can hold the goal down. We know we can get the ball out."

The Red Dragons had three more looks on goal in the final three minutes, but two were saved by Dowling and one went wide of goal. SUNY New Paltz then held possession at the offensive end long enough to hold out with the win.

"I think what we practice and in training, and what we talk about often is to continue to play on, be in the moment and not worry just happened. I think today was a prime example of what happens when we act like that," Szablinski said. "As far as us playing really well, Cortland has an amazing attack and that was one of our goals to make sure we deny and we are aware of all the off-ball players. They did a great job of that. We were stepping up and really taking control of the game, so it was great to see and we were poised and controlled. I think we had some calls that did not go our way, but they kept their head and they played hard and smart."

SUNY New Paltz held the advantage in shots (17-13) and corners (10-6) in the game. Ascencao and Croteau led the team with five and four shots, respectively, while Dowling came up with seven saves in the game.  

Dowling was named Tournament MVP after combining for 23 saves over the two games in the tournament. Gunter, Cottrell and Ascencao were also named to the All-Tournament team.

"Holding the trophy was just a great feeling and then being called MVP, I was shocked because it just wasn't something I was expecting and I am just super proud of my accomplishments," Dowling said after the game, while holding the coveted SUNYAC trophy.

The win also guaranteed the Hawks a spot in the NCAA tournament, with the first round beginning Nov. 7. SUNY New Paltz will found out who it will play Sunday.

"I think we have a great run," Szablinski said. "We're playing really well and this is the time to move into NCAA's with that type of confidence and momentum."

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