After two dramatic overtime victories last week, which concluded with a win over previously No. 16 ranked University of Rochester, the State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team enters conference play Saturday against Oswego State.
 
"We're very excited to get back into SUNYAC play," said Hawks sophomore midfielder Shannon Bernhardt. "There is nothing better going in knowing that we were the champions last year and we have a reputation to uphold. We have to fight to earn that title back every SUNYAC game." 
 An up-and-down first half of the season resulted in three wins in six games prior to the Hawks' overtime contests over Skidmore and the Yellowjackets last week. The two wins were much needed after tough back-to-back losses to Monclair State and Vassar College.
 
With a week to prepare for the Lakers, the Hawks worked on situational hockey, especially after a tough game against Rochester. SUNY New Paltz was 2.7 seconds away from a win, until the Yellowjackets took advantage of a through ball played deep downfield, which resulted in penalty corner after a yellow-card foul. Rochester capitalized and forced overtime where the Hawks played down for nearly five minutes. They buckled in for the win, but definitely would like to avoid any last second let downs moving forward this season.
 
"Saturday was definitely a learning experience for us," said Bernhardt. "Because we have a lot of freshmen and it is the first time playing at this level and playing very skilled teams like Rochester, but luckily we have a lot of very skilled upperclassmen who are great leaders and they definitely set a great example for us and prepare us for our upcoming games."
 
Oswego State just broke a three-game losing skid Wednesday in its first State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action with a 6-1 win over Morrisville State. The Lakers other two wins came against Houghton in their season opener, 2-1 and a 12-0 rout of Wells earlier in the year.
 
"Going into our game against Oswego, we definitely don't want to underestimate them," Bernhardt said. "We don't speak about their record. We only talk about what we can control and what we can do when we play against them, because we only want to focus on our game not there's so we can really capitalize on all of our opportunities."

Freshman forward Annie O'Neill leads Oswego offensively with six goals and an assist on the year for a team-leading 13 points. Sophomore midfielder Jenna Rogers and junior forward Kathleen Little follow with a goal and three assists, respectively.
 
Freshman Erica Scheblein has started all seven games in goal for the Lakers, allowing 16 goals against in 81 shots faced, while making 38 saves for a .704 save percentage.
 
Freshman Jamie Wagner paces the Hawks offensively with four goals and two assists, scoring two of her goals in the last pair of games. Bernhardt follows with two goals and five assists, while junior Carly Croteau and Jessica Ascencao has totaled seven goals and two assists combined. Ascencao was recently named SUNYAC PrestoSports field hockey Offensive Athlete of the Week following her efforts last week, which culminated in the game-winning stroke against Rochester.
 
"Since we played Rochester there has been a lot of things we've wanted to work on and focus on," Bernhardt added. "A lot of breaking down the full game into little situations like 2-v-1's, so we've been working a lot on small games and holding possession and definitely playing until the buzzer sounds, because in our last game, Rochester scored with like 30 seconds left. So we are trying to score first and score quick in our next game against Oswego."
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to travel to Oswego State Saturday for a 4 p.m. matchup.

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