New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz suffered its second conference loss of the season Saturday against rival SUNY Cortland, falling in double overtime, 3-2.
The Hawks drop to 9-6 overall and 3-2 in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) following the loss, while the Red Dragons improve to 13-3 and 4-1 in the SUNYAC. Of the latter's 13 wins of the season eight have now come in extra time. Additonally with the defeat, SUNY New Paltz is now third in the conference standings, while Cortland jumps ahead at No. 2, setting up a potential re-match in the SUNYAC Tournament with the Hawks traveling to face the Red Dragons for a win or go-home game.
"We have to be prepared to travel. That is the bottom line," said Hawks coach
Shanna Szablinski. "Win on the road, win at home, it doesn't matter. We have to be prepared to play this team much better than how we played them today. That is just the nature of the beast."
Natasia Plunkett got the scoring started for the Hawks with a minute left in the first quarter. Off a corner,
Julia Cummings found the ball at her stick and played a ball in toward Plunkett. With her back to the goal, Plunkett turned and knocked her shot past Red Dragons goalie Marisa D'Amico for the score.
Molly Quinlan answered for the Red Dragons midway through the second quarter to tie the score at one, while Hannah Burchell gave the visitors the lead early in the third after a green card was given to SUNY New Paltz back
Sarah Swift. Cortland took advantage of the man-up situation, earning a corner immediately and Burchell capitalizing with a goal.
However, the Hawks quickly re-grouped and responded less than a minute later.
Jamie Wagner played a corner in to Bernhardt, who laid a pass off to Jessica Acsencao. Ascencao ripped a shot from the top of the circle that careened off the post, and again Plunkett was there to come up big for SUNY New Paltz. The freshman found the loose ball in front of the net and knocked her shot past D'Amico once again to notch her second goal of the day.
The score stayed tied at two after regulation and forced extra time. Heading into overtime, the Hawks out-shot Cortland 16-14, but in 16 minutes of bonus time, the Red Dragons held the advantage, 12-1 after holding possession for most of overtime.
SUNY New Paltz's defense held firm in keeping the stalemate, even overcoming two green cards in overtime with
Mackenzie Mortimer stepping up to make seven saves in the last 16 minutes of action. However, the Red Dragons finally broke through in the 77th minute. Burchell drove to the net, forcing Mortimer to come out to make the initial stop, but Lily Fox came crashing in to clean up in front of the goal and put away the game-winner for Cortland.
"I think in the overtime we really struggled getting the ball out of our defensive 50," Szablinski said. "Instead of recognizing we had space to take when they were hanging back and playing the pass, we were trying to force passes and in return Cortland did a good job of coming up with the ball and counter attacking, so that did affect any transition that we needed to make out of our backfield."
The Red Dragons ultimately finished with the edge in shots (26-17) and shots on goal (20-13). Plunkett led the Hawks with six shots, followed by
Carly Croteau and Ascencao with three apiece. Mortimer ended the game with 13 saves, while D'Amico had 10 stops for Cortland.
"We had some good opportunities to score," Szablinski said. "There were times when we were driving into the circle and releasing to no one. I think that is something we really need to clean up as far as our circle play."
SUNY New Paltz has two more regular season games left on the schedule, both on the North Turf Field. The Hawks play SUNY Oneonta Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and end Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against Ithaca.
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