The State University of New York at New Paltz women's lacrosse team went into its game Tuesday against visiting Bard College knowing it had to fine tune elements on both sides of the ball before it faced a tough SUNY Cortland team Saturday.

The Hawks (4-2) played hard, worked through their sets on both offense and defense, and had an overall dominating performance in a win over the Raptors. But, they know the Red Dragons (5-3), who are ranked No. 15 in the country heading into the matchup, are going to be a much more daunting task.

"We're expecting good competition," said SUNY New Paltz freshman midfielder Keydy Espinoza. "We think we're going to be able to compete with them. I know we lost to them last year, but this is a new team. We have a whole new attack, defense, midfield, so I think we're going to be able to do good against them."

The only two losses this season for the Hawks came on the road against Stockton University (12-5) and Roanoke College (15-11). In both of those contests SUNY New Paltz lost the turnover battle and possession on the draw circle, while also giving up numerous free positions in the arc, which led to 11 of its 27 goals given up.

Against Cortland, SUNY New Paltz will need to win majority of the possession on the circle to limit a potent Red Dragons offense.

"Coach puts a lot of emphasis on the winning the draw, because it is such a huge part of the game," Espinoza said. "I think if we're going to be able to give Cortland good competition we're going to have to win the draws. We've been doing a lot of individual work on the draw with the circle people and trying different techniques to see what is going to work best against their draw girl."

Heading into their first SUNYAC game of the season, the Hawks are averaging about 14 goals per game, while allowing about nine a contest.

Tara Bovich and Amy Hofer lead SUNY New Paltz offensively, with Bovich totaling 21 goals and three assists in five games, and Hofer registering 17 goals and three assists in six.
Against the Raptors, Bovich was out with an ankle injury and the Hawks offense didn't miss a step, as they had six different players contribute at least a point in the outing.

"I think they're excited to fill a role that is now missing this last game," said SUNY New Paltz coach Keith Detelj following the 15-5 win over Bard. "I think they had fun with trying to be creative and figuring out a different way to score."

Nicole Sheintul leads the Hawks on the defensive end and has put out some stout performances in the last few games, totaling 39 saves against Stockton, Roanoke and Bard, with a .491 save percentage thus far this season.

For the Red Dragons, sophomore midfielder Lexie Meager leads the team in points through eight games this season. She has recorded a team-high 28 goals, along with six assists, while junior midfielder Carly Stone is not too far behind, registering 21 goals and nine assists.

Freshman Annie Casey has started all eight games in goal for SUNY Cortland and recorded 61 saves with a .459 save percentage, while allowing 72 goals against in 476 minutes played.
As a team, the Red Dragons average about 13 points per game, while giving up just nine a contest.

"I definitely feel confident that we can give them a competition on Saturday even though we did lose to them last year," Hofer said. "I feel like we just need to come together and not fall back on our bad habits, and make sure we're working towards a victory in the end."

The Hawks will hit the road to take on SUNY Cortland Saturday at 1 p.m. Be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook for updates, highlights, videos, photos and more.