NEW PALTZ, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's soccer team will look to pick up its second win of the season Wednesday at Bard. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Hawks will enter the game coming off of back-to-back losses against Manhattanville and Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham last weekend.

"Wednesday's game is huge for us," Hawks freshman forward Ally Donovan said. "After a losing weekend, we really need to come out strong and get a positive result to gain our momentum as we move into SUNYAC play." 

The Raptors will enter the game with a record of 3-3, defeating Elmira, Coast Guard, and Drew and falling to Smith, Sage, and Wilkes. Bard is 1-0 on its home turf.

Historically the Hawks and the Raptors have been evenly matched with SUNY New Paltz holding a slight advantage. The Hawks are 5-4 against Bard dating back to 2008. Recently, however, the Raptors have dominated, winning four consecutive matchups against SUNY New Paltz. 

The Hawks will look to end Bard's streak by being more efficient on their set piece opportunities. After a disappointing weekend, Hawks coach Mike Eckberg expressed a need to improve on set pieces both offensively and defensively. His players have received that message, and they feel ready to execute against Bard.

"It is going to be important for us to be in a position to create set pieces offensively, and then we need to finish those opportunities by getting on the end of a service or crashing the net," Donovan said.

Donovan and freshman teammate Katie Buquicchio lead the Hawks in goals scored with three each. However, Donovan has not found the back of the net since scoring two goals in a 9-0 blowout against SUNY Old Westbury. She'll look to get back on the scoreboard by carrying momentum from pregame training into the game.

Donovan said, "We had one of the best pregame practices of the season today. If we translate our energy and what we did in practice to the game tomorrow, then I think it is going to be a great game for us."

A win for SUNY New Paltz would make it's record 2-4-1 with one more game against Mount St. Vincent before entering conference play on Sept. 28 against SUNY Oneonta.

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