Box Score New Paltz, NY -- It was an explosive start to the season for the State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team.
 
The Hawks allowed visiting Utica College to take the initial lead within the first few minutes of the game, but answered ten-fold, pouring on seven-straight goals to take the season opening, 7-1, victory Saturday. It was a promising way to respond for a young team that started five freshman in its opener. 
 
"I think today when we did play, we didn't play like we had youth on the field. I think we played really well together," said SUNY New Paltz coach Shanna Szablinski. "What was important today was that we transitioned on attack together, we transitioned defensively together, we were organized and we were capitalizing on our opportunities. I think that was the key to our success. It wasn't so much who was out there. It was how we played together, and we were a cohesive unit."
 
Josie Sgarlata lifted the Pioneers (0-1) ahead just six minutes into the first half, putting away the assist from Joanna Gaertner. But, their lead lasted less than six minutes before freshman Morgan Gunter knocked in her first career goal to knot up the score.
 
The Hawks didn't take long to add another, as they won the ball off the ensuing whistle. Carly Croteau used her speed and quickness to get inside the circle and play a ball in, which deflected off a Utica defender and into the net to give her team the 2-1 lead just 11 seconds later.
 
"We had a really solid warm up today, everybody came with a lot of energy, a lot of focus and we were really focused on the game," said Croteau, who finished with three goals and an assist on the day. "Honestly, the warm up was pretty good, so once we scored the [first] goal it kind of just lit a fire that was already starting to burn."
 
Croteau added another three minutes later, finishing a ball played in from Maggie Cottrell to extend the SUNY New Paltz lead. Jessica Ascencao, scoring her first career goal, added one more before halftime to push the Hawks ahead, 3-1 at the break.
 
Sophia Urrutia, playing in her first game in more than a year after being sidelined with a foot injury last season, subbed in for Croteau and scored back-to-back goals to start the second half. Croteau then added one more insurance goal, with Rachel Beam picking up the assist on the play to finalize the 7-1 win.
 
"To have depth on the forward line makes a huge difference and they did a really great job of being aggressive inside the circle, but also being smart with the ball too and creating opportunities for each other," Szablinski said. "The idea for us today was to get out there and take risks, take chances inside the circle and they didn't hold back and that reflected on the score."

SUNY New Paltz out-shot the Pioneers 21-16 in the game, while each team earned 10 penalty corners. Jamie Owens got the start in net for the Hawks and made nine saves, while Ryan Dowling came in for the last 13 minutes and recorded one stop.
 
"It's honestly pretty big, especially since we have a game tomorrow. It sets the tone for the rest of the weekend and also the season, looking forward in advance," Croteau said. "We had a really good set up and our passes were connecting as well, so we're going to take this and apply it to tomorrow's game and fix the little things that we need to work on."
 
The Hawks are back in action Sunday, hosting St. Lawrence University on the North Turf Field at 11 a.m. To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.