The State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team is back in conference play Saturday, traveling to The College at Brockport to take on the Golden Eagles (7-3 overall, 0-1 SUNYAC).

The Hawks (6-3, 1-0) have won 10-straight over Brockport, including a tight 4-3 game in 2018. SUNY New Paltz dominated on paper in the outing, out-shooting the Golden Eagles, 27-10, but its defense had one of its poorest outings of the season. The visitors never led in the matchup, but cut the deficit to one twice throughout the game. The Hawks hope to avoid another flat start this time around. 

"Last year I think we underestimated them a little bit and we played down and not up to our tempo that we had been maintaining the whole season, so this season we want to make sure that we set the tempo and we set the pace for the game, and we just play our game," said Hawks sophomore midfielder Morgan Gunter. "So, we possess the ball and we work the ball up the field instead of slamming it into the congestion that I know we did a lot last year. We also need to make sure that we're executing our plays like we know we can and if we do all that we'll be good this year too."

Brockport lost its lone State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game of the year to SUNY Cortland Sept. 27, but gave the Red Dragons a fight with the game heading into overtime tied at one. SUNY Cortland eventually ended the stalemate a minute into the extra period to clinch a 2-1 victory. The Golden Eagles bounced back, however, in their latest outing after defeating Elmira College, 1-0 in a night game on Wednesday.

With 33 goals on the year, Brockport sits second in all of the SUNYAC in total goals, averaging more than three per game, while giving up just more than one a contest. Meaghan Lurz leads the team with seven goals -- tied for second in the league -- while Katie Ziemba follows with six goals and six assists to sit second in the conference with 18 points.

"Brockport is a really fast and scrappy team, so they go to the ball really hard," Gunter said. "We just need to make sure we have a really good first touch and good, clean receptions to take the ball where we want to go immediately and eliminate quickly before they get on top of us."

The Hawks, meanwhile, rolled to a win in their first SUNYAC action, defeating hosting Oswego State, 6-1 Sept. 27. Jessica Ascencao was the catalyst in the victory, as the reigning SUNYAC Rookie of the Year totaled three goals and two assists, recording her second career hat trick and placing herself in the SUNY New Paltz field hockey history books by totaling eight points in a single game, placing her tied for third all-time.

Ascencao currently leads the team with 16 points, which includes seven goals through nine games. Freshman Jamie Wagner follows offensively with four goals and three assists, while sophomore Shannon Bernhardt has totaled three goals and five assists on the year for the Hawks.

"I think we're getting towards our potential even though we're a young team," said Gunter, who has registered three goals to aid her team offensively. "I think we've transformed a lot since the start of the season, especially our possession game. In the beginning of the season we just slammed the ball back right where it came from and this year we're doing a really good job of taking it back, working it around in the backfield, waiting for the splits to open up and taking advantage and working it up as a team. Instead of passing into congestion and carrying into congestion as well."

As a team, SUNY New Paltz has totaled 26 goals through eight games to average 3.1 goals per game -- ranking third in SUNYAC -- while conceding 18 against. They've allowed just two goals in their last two outings and have totaled one shutout thus far. Mackenzie Mortimer has started the last three contests in goal and went 3-0 in that span. In five total appearances Mortimer has given up five goals against, while making 23 saves on 30 shots faced for a productive .821 save percentage.

SUNY New Paltz is set to take on the Golden Eagles Saturday at 1 p.m.

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