New Paltz, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz women's soccer team battled to another near 110-minute game Saturday before Katie Buquicchio put an end to the match with a golden goal, double-overtime, game-ending header off a corner from Emma Voege to give the Hawks a 2-1 win over visiting Buffalo State Saturday on the South Turf Field.
 
SUNY New Paltz (6-5-2 overall, 4-2-1 SUNYAC), coming off a 1-1 double overtime tie against Fredonia Friday, put extra emphasis on getting three points against the last placed Bengals (2-13, 0-7), as the team honored its seven graduating seniors: Ciara Devlin, Lisette Palomo, Cailin Ruoti, Olivia Ingalsbe, Sky Pedroza, Danielle Angyal and Brittany Morasse, prior to the game with all seven getting the start on the day.
 
"It was definitely an important game for us, because it was our senior day today," Buquicchio said. "We just really wanted to get this win for the seniors. The game overall, we had a rocky start and we kind of regrouped at halftime. We still weren't getting the finishes that we wanted to, but by overtime we got the win, so we're excited."

 
 
Buffalo State struck first in the 10th minute, as Macey Gioeli finished off a cross just atop the six-yard box from Erin Valente for the game's first goal. The goal was only one of two attempts on net the Bengals took in the game and they capitalized.
 
The Hawks didn't pick up their play until the second half when they tallied 24 shots on Buffalo State goalkeeper Isabella Vene. Vene stepped up and made some crucial saves, including back-to-back 1-v-1 saves against SUNY New Paltz freshman forward Parris Burke late in the first half to preserve the lead.
 
Ally Donovan created havoc on the left flank for SUNY New Paltz, as she used her speed to make runs wide and deliver good services back into the box. Early in the second half, Donovan slipped past her defender and found an open Dana Salinas open in the middle of the box, but Salinas couldn't connect on the would-have-been one-timer at goal. Not long after, Donovan burned her defender once again and played a dangerous ball back in to Maggie Cameron, but Buffalo State's defense was there to get into the mix and clear the ball away.
 
Donovan also helped set up another near-goal for SUNY New Paltz, earning one of the team's 16 corners in the game. Emma Voege played the ensuing set piece in toward the top of the six-yard box for Buquicchio who got a head on the cross and angled her attempt down, but Vene made the reaction save to prevent the ball from crossing the line to keep the shutout with still 26 minutes left in the second half.
 
 
"We were really frustrated because we had a lot of chances this game that we weren't finishing," Buquicchio said. "The goalie on the other team was making a lot of great saves, so to get the goal at the end felt really good. We just really wanted the three points for our seniors today."
 
Fittingly, it was one of the seniors honored on the night, Lisette Palomo, who stepped up to tie the game for the Hawks. Donovan again instigated the play. She dribbled back atop the box, taking three defenders with her and laid off a pass to Siena Diaz-Colon who made a run behind wide. Diaz-Colon dribbled end line and centered a bouncing ball across that Palomo got behind on a header to tap in for the score.
 
It was the first goal as a Hawk for the Iona College transfer, and her first collegiate goal ever. 
 
"We were really excited for Lisette," Buquicchio said. "This was her first collegiate goal she said, so we're really happy for her to get that done on senior day." 
SUNY New Paltz continued to press offensively and had numerous chances to win the game in regulation. The hosts were also unlucky on a few calls, as a handball around the 18 was placed just outside, resulting in a shot too high on the ensuing free kick. With less than eight minutes to go, Donovan worked her way inside the box once more and seemingly was tripped up by the Bengals defense but play went on.
 
With the game tied at one, the Hawks and Bengals went into two 10-minute golden goal overtime periods. Most of the extra time was played in the Bengals defensive half.
 
Buquicchio narrowly finished the game off a highlight header on a corner by Voege, as the junior came flying through to get a head on the cross, but her attempt careened off the cross bar and eventually Vene corralled the ball to clear. A few minutes later, Cameron found herself 1-v-1 inside the six, but her attempt went wide, hitting the post and out of play. SUNY New Paltz hit one last post before the second overtime period began. Off a free kick just outside the box, Voege laid a ball off for Alexis DeLeo who took a touch and ripped a shot that curved wide, inches away from getting inside the right edge of goal but instead hit off the post and went out of play.
 
Finally, in the 104th minute, Voege to Buquicchio's connection off a corner found the back of the net, as Buquicchio again sailed over defenders to get her head on the ball and placed her shot into the corner of the goal to seal the 2-1 win.
 
The score was the second in as many days for the junior, who also put away the game-tying goal against the Blue Devils Friday.
 
"Emma has a really great kicks, so we love when she takes our corners and free kicks, so we were really glad to get the finish on that one," Buquicchio said. "I'm really excited. They're my first two goals of the season, so to have them back-to-back was really cool."
 

GAME OVER!!! #HAWKSWIN

Buqucchio gets up and finishes on the header to give Hawks the 2-1 #2OT WIN!!! @newpaltz @SUNYACsports #NPHawks #NPWS pic.twitter.com/S4qP4eqqKB

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) October 16, 2021

After playing the full 110 minutes Friday, Buquicchio again played the full 104 minutes of action Saturday in the win, while also totaling five shots in the game. Devlin was the only other Hawk to play every minute of action both Friday and Saturday. DeLeo, Cameron and Donovan led the team with six shots apiece, followed by Diaz-Colong with five and Voege, Ruoti and Burke with four.

"I feel like our team is really fit this year," Buquicchio said. "We came in with a lot of fitness to do in practice and we got it done, so I feel like we're prepared to be playing in overtimes if we don't get it done during the regular game. I'm really confident in our team when we go into overtime."
 
Angyal got her first start in goal and made one save, playing the full 104 minutes. Vene finished the outing with 23 saves. The Hawks out-shot Buffalo State, 51-1 with 26 shots on frame. They also kept the Bengals without a single corner in the game. 
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Oct. 22 and 23, when it ends the regular season at home against Oswego State and SUNY Cortland, respectively.

POST-GAME INTERVIEW WITH KATIE BUQUICCHIO


GAME HIGHLIGHTS

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