With only four games left of the conference season, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's lacrosse team sets its sights on a win against SUNY Geneseo Saturday, and looks to secure its first playoff spot in program history.
 
"Our expectations for this game are to play just as confident as we were coming off our win from Buff State," said Hawks junior defensive midfielder Jahna Beiling. "We are really focusing on what we have instead of what Geneseo is bringing. We're confident of our defense in our zone and we've seen really great things from our offense this season, so we really just want to bring that to the table and have a good battle." 
 SUNY New Paltz boasts an 8-3 overall and 4-1 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) record and their most successful season in program history. Their most recent victory came from an overtime win over Buffalo State, 12-11. The Hawks' winning goal was a result of an exchange between four Hawk's players; attackers Taylor Russell, Tara Bovich, Jennifer O'Leary and Maddy Carullo demonstrated tactful offense by pressuring the Bengals' goal and stealing possession. The winning goal was Carullo's eighth of the game, a career-high for the rookie, which ties her with teammates Bovich and Amy Hofer for the program record of most goals scored in a single game.

SUNY New Paltz is currently ranked fourth in the SUNYAC, while SUNY Geneseo claims a close lead in third. The Knights (8-4 overall, 4-0 SUNYAC) were triumphant in their most recent game, earning a 13-11 win over Oswego State. The game was their smallest SUNYAC win-margin yet; their perfect conference record includes dominating wins over Plattsburgh State, Fredonia State and SUNY Oneonta.
 
"We're definitely really excited about where we are at this point in the season," said Hawks senior Russell. "We've already made history, we have a winning season. We're 4-1 in the SUNYAC, which has never been done before, so all of those things are really pushing us to continue making history and continue winning these games and securing a spot in playoffs."
 
The Hawks have yet to prevail over SUNY Geneseo throughout program history, but are confident in their ability to flip the script based on this season's success. Their record contains the highest amount of both overall and SUNYAC wins in program history, and SUNY New Paltz enjoys its highest seed in the conference ever. The team established a goal in the beginning of the season to secure a spot in the playoffs, a once lofty but now likely accomplishment.
 
"In practice we've been watching a lot of film on Geneseo so we get to see what their offense looks like and what their defense looks like so that we can kind of resemble that in practice and we can get our matchups right and kind of get a feel for the competition we're going to see on Saturday," Russell concluded.
 
The Hawks will host SUNY Geneseo Saturday on the North Turf at 1 p.m. To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.