New Paltz, NY – In a back-and-forth battle between arguably two of the best teams in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), the State University of New York at New Paltz suffered its first conference loss to SUNYAC undefeated SUNY Geneseo (12-2 overall, 3-0 SUNYAC) Saturday, 2-1.

The Hawks (8-4, 2-1) had a strong first half and it showed on the scoreboard in the opening period with Carly Croteau putting away the game's first goal off a pass from Courtney Kruzikas. The Knights answered in the second quarter with Jordan Penkitis scoring her fifth of the season. Off a re-start just outside the circle, Geneseo centered the ball to Penkitis who found some space and ripped a shot high glove side just past SUNY New Paltz's Mackenzie Mortimer.

Mortimer came through with a couple impressive stops throughout the game. She was tested again not long after Penkitis' equalizer with about four minutes to play in the half. Elisa Arcara narrowly added a go-ahead score for the Knights on a hard strike toward the near side corner, but Mortimer came up with the foot save to keep the score even.

Hawks started the third quarter a little flat with the Knights controlling the tempo and registering five shots and three corners in the period. Neither team's defense broke though, which resulted in a game-deciding fourth quarter.
 

A minute into the final period Geneseo capitalized. Julia Kim put the initial shot on goal, which hit off the post, but Erin Nolan was there to knock in the rebound and give her team the 2-1 lead.
However, the Hawks responded immediately. Despite playing temporarily with a man-down following a green card given to Shannon Bernhardt, SUNY New Paltz put pressure on the Knights' defense and attacked the circle to earn a corner. Jamie Wagner played the ball to Jessica Ascencao who put a shot on target, which was initially saved by the Knights' Natalie Chojnacki, but the Hawks earned a stroke on the play and in stepped Wagner for the opportunity to equalize for her team. The freshman calmly struck a solid shot into the top right corner, no chance for Chojnacki to make the save for the highlight goal.

With six minutes left, SUNY New Paltz had a prime opportunity to regain the lead. The Hawks earned three-straight corners, putting three shots on net, but Geneseo defenders Kim and Taylor Flanagan came up big, each recording a defensive save to hold the game at two-all. The Knights then flipped momentum, and on the re-start, quickly got the ball up field, holding numbers in transition and found Nolan open in front of goal who knocked in the score. 
"I think we were lacking the discipline defensively inside our defensive circle, just making sure we were taking care of the ball, but also the off-ball players needed to be on their marks," said Hawks coach Shanna Szablinski. "We had multiple people playing the same ball leaving people open on the post and that is exactly what is going to happen. A team like Geneseo is going to capitalize on that. That is how they scored a lot of their goals this year. We just kind of had some lapses where we looked a little frantic and we all went to the ball instead of just one staying on the ball and weren't covering our marks. That's something as a coach that I need to make sure we become better at during training, so we can take that into the game."
 
SUNY New Paltz earned two corners in the last minute, but couldn't get a good look at the cage with Ascencao putting one last attempt on goal, but Chojnack came up with the stop and Geneseo milked the final seconds to solidify the 2-1 outcome.

Ascencao led the team with five shots, followed by Croteau and Bernhardt with three apiece. Mortimer finished with nine saves in the game and suffered her first loss as a starter. Chojnacki ended with seven stops.

"Fortunately a setback is something that can propel you forward and it depends on how we handle this and what our mentality is moving forward," Szablinski said. "We need to realize that we need to clean up what we're doing on the field to be successful. When you play against good teams you can't let down, because they'll take advantage of that and that is what happened today."

The Hawks are back on the North Turf Field Tuesday in a non-conference matchup against Kean University at 4 p.m.

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