The State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team hits the road Saturday to take on a tough St. John Fisher team, which is coming off an exciting 4-2 win over SUNY Geneseo to stay perfect on the season at 3-0.

Along with beating the Knights Wednesday, the Cardinals have also collected 3-1 and 4-1 wins against William Smith College and St. Lawrence University, respectively, to begin the year. 

During their opening three games thus far, St. John Fisher has averaged nearly four goals per game, while out-shooting the opposition, 72-18. The Cardinals are led by a stout forward line, which features junior Bre Socker, who recorded her 100th point against SUNY Geneseo Wednesday. The Liverpool, NY native paces the team in points (13), assists (3) and goals (5), scoring two and assisting on another against the Knights. Sophomore Gianna Palma follows with three goals and an assist on the year.
"They're so dangerous because they are very fast and they attack at speed," said Hawks sophomore back Kayla Ahern. "They like to change the ball direction, so we just need to make sure that we're keeping our distance and just keep our good foot positioning."

Kelly Bergamo has played all 180 minutes in goal for the Cardinals, totaling 10 saves on just 17 shots faced for a .714 save percentage.

Bergamo will have to stop a Hawks attack that is coming off a 5-1 rout of RPI Wednesday. SUNY New Paltz had four different goal scorers in the game, led by freshman Jamie Wagner with two. Morgan Gunter leads the team with three goals on the season, followed by Carly Croteau, Wagner and Natasia Plunkett who each have two. Both Gunter and Croteau have a team-leading six points through five games played.

"It's important for us to just start this momentum win," Ahern said. "The win that we just got with RPI definitely got the ball rolling, but we need to keep that momentum going because the competition is only going to get harder from here. Just keeping our confidence up and just keep on pushing through until we get the results that we should be getting, because we are such a talented team. We just need to finish and really execute."

The two teams have met just twice before, starting in 2017 and last season. The Cardinals have won both matchups, 3-0, and most recently, 5-4 in what was an exciting game on the North Turf Field.

SUNY New Paltz narrowly came away with the victory. With the game tied at four, Croteau was inches away of putting in the go-ahead goal as the time expired in regulation. Croteau's attempt careened off the post and the game ultimately went into overtime where the Cardinals finished with a 5-4 victory.

"It's definitely a factor. I remember that game and we were so close to finishing," Ahern said. "We just really need to focus in the entire time and give 100 percent the entire time, and just give it our all. I know that if we come to play that day we will definitely going to be able to stick it to them."

The Hawks are hoping for some redemption Saturday, while also boosting some confidence heading into the following week where they will match up against Skidmore College and No. 14 University of Rochester, two teams that defeated them last season.

SUNY New Paltz is set to face St. John Fisher Saturday at 4 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.