New Paltz, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz field hockey team won its second consecutive game Tuesday and earned its fourth shutout of the year after a 4-0 victory over FDU-Florham on the North Turf Field.
 
After playing eight of nine games on the road, the Hawks (8-2 overall, 2-0 SUNYAC) were back on their home turf in a non-conference matchup against a solid Devils team before heading into a highly anticipated rivalry matchup Saturday against the Cortland Red Dragons. The win was exactly what coach Shanna Szablinski was looking for in her group as they picked up their fifth win in six games.
 
"It's what we needed," she said. "That momentum, the confidence — you know, practice and training has been very challenging, and they've been rising to the occasion. Going into Saturday, this is good momentum. I think they still know we still have three days before we play and it's still time for us to grow and get better. We can't take our foot off the pedal. It's about us doing the things we do really well and doing them consistently without any fears of our opponent."
 
Hannah Ackerman got the offense going against FDU-Florham with a score five minutes into the first quarter, finishing off an assist from senior Morgan Gunter. SUNY New Paltz out-shot the Devils, 7-1 in the period and was awarded a pair of penalty corners but went into the second up just one score. Just two minutes into the second half, Ackerman made sure to add to the cushion, as she recorded her fifth of the season with junior Natasia Plunkett picking up the assist on the play.
 
 
"We're really confident," Ackerman said. "Our offense is really patient and smart. We finish with a lot of goals, but if it takes a while to get them, we're willing to work hard to get there eventually."
 
FDU-Florham ended the first half strong, however, finding opportunities in the Hawks' defensive circle and earning consecutive corners with five minutes to go in the half. Ryan Dowling came up with the stop on the initial attempt with SUNY New Paltz's defense clearing away the ensuing penalty corner.
 
The Devils were awarded another corner with less than two minutes left, but the Hawks defense stood strong once again, as senior back Kayla Ahern made a nice tackle to win the ball and quickly transition up the field to sophomore Morgan Woolley the other way. Neither team had anything dangerous in the final minute of the half with the hosts keeping a 2-0 advantage at the break. 
"One of our goals was during transition to get organized defensively, so we're prepared upon circle entry opposed to trying to figure things out when we're already in the critical scoring areas," Szablinski. "I think we did a really good job of getting organized and finding a lot of pressure on the ball. We had some beautiful tackles and some tough calls that maybe didn't go our way. Even though they ended up being corners, we held our own and that is really important not to let outside distractions influence the way we play."
 
The Hawks had an even more impressive second half, out-shooting FDU-Florham 10-5 and keeping their opposition out of their defensive zone for the majority of the fourth quarter. Following a quick corner for the Devils 30 seconds into the third, SUNY New Paltz made another defensive stand, cleared out of its end and capitalized on the other side of the field. Shannon Bernhardt played a great ball toward the opposite side of the circle and Woolley was there to get on the other end, beating FDU-Florham's goalie for the score.
 
"I think our attack is taking more risks and understanding that a lot of times there's no such thing as a perfect shot, and to take opportunities upon entering the circle and being super aggressive on the rebound," Szablinski said. "I think that is one of the things we really hone in on is finishing at practice, but also making sure we're balanced so we can get those opportunities off the rebounds."
 

GOOAAALLL!!

Bernhardt fires in a pass with @MorganWoolley3 there on the other end for the score!! @NewPaltz_FH up 3-0 about '6 left 3Q #NPHawks #NPFH pic.twitter.com/2UrzDTUXPy

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) October 5, 2021

 
With the Hawks holding momentum and a 3-0 lead, Szablinski used her bench in the fourth quarter and there was no let down, and ultimately, extended their advantage to four late in the period.
 
Again, refusing to let the Devils out of their defensive side, SUNY New Paltz won the ball back and continued to press onto goal. Amanda Quennville was the beneficiary, as the freshman continued to crash goal and put away her own rebound on her initial shot to score her second of the year and finalize the 4-0 outcome.
 
"In the second half we definitely picked it up," Ackerman said. "We kind of let them have some corners in the first half that were back-to-back and we had to end that right away, because other teams will finish on those. We really just pushed forward and didn't really let them come down to our defensive end in the second half."
 
The Hawks out-shot FDU-Florham, 20-8 in the game, and 14-8 in shots on goal, while SUNY New Paltz's defense withstood nine penalty corners in the game to keep the shutout. Dowling opened up the game and played about 42 minutes and finished with five saves, while Mackenzie Mortimer came in for relief, seeing about 18 minutes of action needing not to make any stops.
 
Ackerman led all players with seven shots, four of which were on goal. Woolley finished with four shots, three on goal, followed by Plunkett, Courtney Kruzikas and Quennville with two shots each.
 
"We really capitalized on taking the open space," Ackerman said. "They were really backing off and we just didn't give them a chance to keep up. We have a big game coming up and they're not going to give us those chances and so we made sure to capitalize on them here today."
 
The Hawks are back on the North Turf Field for back-to-back games for the first time all year. They have arguably their biggest game of the regular season against the rival Red Dragons who enter the contest having won all 10 of their contests so far to earn a No. 16 national ranking.
 
SUNY New Paltz is ready to put back on their home blues for just their third home contest of the season, hoping to hand Cortland its first loss of 2021.
 
"It felt really good," said Ackerman on playing on her home turf again. "We put on our home jerseys that we haven't worn in a while, so we were just ready to come out hard and represent our team with pride, which is our main theme this year. We're really excited to put them back on this Saturday."

Hannah Ackerman Post-Game Interview

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