New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's soccer team played to a gritty, 2-2 tie in double overtime in its final regular season match against Cortland Saturday on the South Turf Field.

SUNY New Paltz (7-5-3 overall, 5-2-2 SUNYAC), which played its fourth straight overtime match had key plays, great defense and stellar saves that kept the Red Dragons (8-4-3, 6-1-2 SUNYAC) from tying the game in the last 39 minutes. With the tie, plus Fredonia State's 1-0 loss to Geneseo, the Hawks clinched the No. 4 seed and will host the No. 5 seeded Blue Devils at the South Turf Field in the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs Oct. 30.

"I thought our midfield adjusted well throughout the game, combined well in the middle third, and connected well with our front line," said SUNY New Paltz coach Mike Eckberg. "Our back line made some adjustments throughout and did well in transition to manage their counters. We executed our set pieces well today. The quality of our services and runs were excellent.

"Big congratulations to our student-athletes for stepping up today and earning the opportunity to host next weekend." 
 

Cortland started the game off with a quick shot attempt in the third minute by Jaden Galluzzo that went over the net. In the 12th minute, Galluzzo got the ball inside the box, setting up a perfect opportunity for Sabrina Rodrigues, whose attempt snuck past sophomore goalkeeper Kyra Russo and found the back of the net for her fourth goal of the year.

The Hawks nearly answered back in the 15th minute on a long, but open attempt — just outside the box — by freshman forward Rachel Eisert, but the ball was knocked out left by Cortland goalkeeper Lexi Ramonetti for the save. The resulting corner kick went straight for the net, but there were no Hawks in the area as Ramonetti grabbed the ball near the goal line.

Both teams stifled each other's offenses for the next 20 minutes with no shot attempts recorded, with the closest attempt for the Red Dragons being called back due to an offsides. A great play to kick the ball off a Cortland defender on the end line in the 34th minute led to a corner kick by freshman midfielder Emma Voege, who found junior defender Jess Funke for the near game-tying header, but the attempt clanked off the crossbar and was booted out.

Another corner kick chance came in the 37th minute, but the attempt went straight on frame and was tipped out of bounds by Ramonetti. The second try from the opposite corner flag found junior defender Katie Buquicchio, who one-hopped the header just past Ramonetti and into the back of the net for the equalizer.

The Red Dragons almost took the lead again in the 44th minute, but their forwards moved too quickly up the field and was called for an offside that effectively ended the half.

The second half started with great defense by both teams to keep the game tied. Cortland had two shots in the 56th and 57th minutes that both went wide, and the resulting race down the field by SUNY New Paltz led to a corner kick. For the third time, Voege placed the cross perfectly and again found Buquicchio for another header, who slotted her attempt into the right corner of the net for her second goal of the game and fourth in the last four matches to give the Hawks their first lead of the contest.

"[Voege's] really good at placing it in the right spot," Buquicchio said. "And that's something that's really dangerous for the other teams in the corner kick, so we're really excited to execute that in the game."
 

And with that, we enter halftime in a tie game, 1-1!@newpaltz @SUNYACsports #nphawks #npws #npsocial #d3soccer pic.twitter.com/WAkQseftS1

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) October 23, 2021

The Red Dragons nearly answered right back 11 seconds after the kickoff, but the long drive by Galluzzo went wide left. Meanwhile, freshman midfielder Alexis DeLeo found open space and launched an attempt from well beyond the box, but Ramonetti was ready, catching the ball near the corner of the goal.

Through the remainder of the half, Cortland, which came into the match as the top scoring team in the conference, found itself with a lot of scoring chances. In the 70th minute, after a foul by senior midfielder Cailin Ruoti, the long free kick was headed softly by Byrn Thompson straight to Rodrigues, who shot a screamer into the upper right corner to re-tie the game at two.

They nearly scored again four minutes later, catching the Hawks with uneven numbers on defense, but Simone Neivel's attempt was saved on a dive by Russo, her first save of the game at that point. Again, Cortland put pressure on SUNY New Paltz's defense in the 79th minute with Alannah O'Shea's shot into the bottom left, but Russo's quick feet stopped the Red Dragons' score.

Neither team had a great start to the first overtime period offensively until the 95th minute. After a well defended throw-in was intercepted, Galluzzo sprinted all the way down the field with only Buquicchio, DeLeo, and Russo to beat. She got by both defenders for an open shot, but the hard attempt was knocked out of bounds by Russo, and the corner kick that followed was well defended, leading to a missed opportunity way right.

Another foul on SUNY New Paltz led to a long free kick, which found the middle of the penalty box, but Neivel's golden goal attempt was kicked out by Russo. Good defense by the Hawks prevented the Red Dragons from getting another opportunity as the clock expired, sending the game to a third double overtime match in two weekends.

A 101th minute shot by Isabella Auth was a line drive straight to Russo, who knocked the attempt down and quickly picked up. A Cortland foul led to another free kick try for SUNY New Paltz. DeLeo played in the set piece, which was deflected by Thompson to junior forward Siena Diaz-Colon, but her attempt just missed hitting the left post before going out of bounds. It was the team's first recorded shot attempt since DeLeo's long try in the 63rd minute. Voege had a chance at a third assist on a 106th minute corner kick, but the ball went straight to a leaping Ramonetti.

The best golden goal chance for the Red Dragons came at the last minute when Lizzy Sabatelle found space and fired a shot to the right corner, but, for the fifth time in 40 minutes, Russo was there to knock the attempt out. Cortland continued to stay on the Hawks defensive side of the field for the remainder of the period but could not get another opportunity as time expired to complete the 2-2 tie.

"Kyra was composed as she could be," Eckberg said. "She stepped up in many big moments and did very well to not give up any second chances."

Cortland attempted 14 shots, eight of them on goal, while SUNY New Paltz only got five attempts, but made the most of them with two goals and two others on target. Russo recorded five saves to increase her season total to 63, while Ramonetti had two for Cortland.

SUNY New Paltz will now turn its focus to the playoffs, as it will host the first round of the playoffs against No. 5 Fredonia State on the South Turf Field at a time to be determined. The winner of the game will move on to face No. 1 Geneseo Nov. 3.

"We're really excited," Buquicchio said. "This has been really good preparation and playing against really good teams this weekend. So we're really excited for next weekend to start the playoffs."

"It is all about finding the next level, striving for the next level in every detail — training, film and everything in between." Eckberg added.

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