Coming off a tough loss at home against SUNY Oneonta, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's lacrosse team is looking to put out a better performance and compete against one of the top teams in the country Saturday against No. 12 SUNY Geneseo.

"Going into Geneseo we definitely need to keep our attitudes up," said Hawks midfielder Emily Puciloski, who netted two goals against the Red Dragons. "We need to get our stick skills back into it and after the Oneonta game we just talked about how we can't keep our heads down after a couple point differentials. We just need to go in strong."

SUNY New Paltz totaled 33 turnovers throughout a rainy and windy Tuesday afternoon in a 17-7 loss to SUNY Oneonta. The Hawks realize they must limit their turnovers, sharpen their stick skills against a tough Knights team that average about 13 caused turnovers a game, and capitalize on their possessions on the offensive end.

"On offense we definitely need to go hard against their defense. We need to move the ball fast, because they are a good team," Puciloski said. "They are going to be fast and are going to come out strong on us. On defense we will be even stronger than we were in all of our other games."

SUNY New Paltz is also trying to end a two-game losing skid and get its first SUNYAC victory of the season. The Hawks (4-4) are 1-3 on the road and 0-2 in conference play thus far.
Leading the team offensively is freshman Tara Bovich, who sat the last two games against SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Cortland due to injury. She registered a team-high 23 goals in six games, while adding three assists. Freshman Amy Hofer isn't too far behind, totaling 18 goals and five assists in seven starts, while Rachael Purtell and Kayla Massena follow with 17 and 13 points, respectively.

Purtell was the catalyst for the Hawks against the Red Dragons, going 3-for-4 on shot attempts with three ground balls and four draw controls off the bench. Freshman midfielder Keydy Espinoza has been crucial in the circle, as her 34 draw controls leads the team. She also has tallied six goals and two assists to go along with six caused turnovers.

Megan Tornatore, Sarah Raynock and Jahna Beiling has held down the Hawks defensively, as all three including sophomore goalie Nicole Sheintul has started all eight games thus far. The quartet has combined for 27 caused turnovers and 61 ground balls this season, while Sheintul has totaled 78 saves and a .462 save percentage.

"I think we've learned a lot this season defensively, but I think we have a long way to go still," Beiling said. "We're excited to bring everything that we have worked on in practice to a game. We have to put together a full 60 minutes together. Against Oneonta we had a lot of good stops defensively, and we're excited to continue that with Geneseo."

SUNY Geneseo, meanwhile remains perfect on the year (8-0 overall, 1-0 SUNYAC), and has out-scored the opposition 109 to 69.

The Knights average nearly 14 goals per game with freshman Hannah Marafioti leading the way with 29 points. Rachel Fisher follows with 11 goals and 14 assists, along with Erin Cregan, Hannah Millich an Tessa Doody who each have 20 or more points on the season.

"We have our scout and we picked out what defenders we want on their offensive players, and we're ready for it. We're not really scared of any kind of offense they have," Beiling said. "Our defense has a lot of potential and once we just play our game and stick to our game, and do our fundamentals I think that we can beat pretty much any offense."

Tess McFadden has gotten the majority of work in the cage, recording 54 saves, while allowing 67 goals against for a .446 save percentage and averaging just less than nine goals per game in six starts.

"Coming off of two losses, we're excited to get back on to a winning streak and I think it starts here," Beiling added. "We have to keep each other up, keep each other's heads in the game and play our game. Not let what they are doing distract us."
 
The Hawks are scheduled to take on the Knights 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.