Cortland, NY -- The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz women's lacrosse team fell to SUNY Cortland Wednesday, 18-17 in its season opening thriller on the Red Field.
After a long year without lacrosse, the Hawks graced the field with excitement. None seemed to have more than senior Tara Bovich, who found herself with a hat trick just 3 minutes, 48 seconds into the match.
Responses were the name of the game in this one. The scoring started early, as the Red Dragons took advantage of an opening draw control and found the back of the net 23 seconds in, but Bovich quickly came back with a goal of her own. Cortland's Hannah Keech gave her squad the lead back 68 seconds later, but Bovich wasn't done, tacking on back-to-back goals before the four-minute mark to give SUNY New Paltz a 3-2 lead.
Not to be outdone by her fellow senior, Amy Hofer fired home her first goal of the year to give the Hawks a 4-2 lead. Hannah Lorenzon of the Red Dragons cut the SUNY New Paltz lead to 4-3 with a goal of her own, but Bovich finished her fourth of the game at the 7:19 mark to go up 5-3. 
From then on, it was a back-and-forth match that saw the score tied seven times in just the first half. Cortland knotted the score at 5-5 with back-to-back goals, followed by Hofer taking the lead back for the Hawks with her second of the game. The Red Dragons responded with three straight, jumping ahead 8-6 with 10:44 left in the first. SUNY New Paltz came back pretty quickly, scoring two goals in a span of 32 seconds from Keydy Espinoza and Katie Zito to knot the match at eight. Cortland once again fired home two straight, but the Hawks' Maddy Carullo and Camryn Ryder matched the Red Dragons at 10.
The final two minutes of the wild first half saw three more goals, as Cortland's point with 1:52 left was equaled by Hofer's third of the day to tie it at 11. The Red Dragons finally scored with 12 seconds left to enter the locker room up, 12-11.
"We wanted to stay organized and stick to our game plan," said Hawks coach Keith Detelj on the first half. "The energy and pace was very good and it was a great game."
SUNY New Paltz jumped ahead early in the second half. Hofer tacked on a score after Kaitlyn Shaw to go up 13-12. Cortland responded a few minutes later with a pair of their own, but Bovich scored number five to tie it up at 14 with 19:31 remaining.
The final 20 minutes brought fans a thrilling closing, as both teams went back-and-forth fighting for the win. The Red Dragons scored two within a minute to go up with 16:09 left, and would never let the Hawks knot it up again. Zito fired one home with 14:21 to play, but Hannah Keech of Cortland responded with her third of the game. Carullo tried to help complete the comeback with just more than five minutes left, making it a one goal game, but Keech found the back of the net again as the shot clock expired with 2:45 left.
Down two with 2:30 left, SUNY New Paltz upped the pace, as Espinoza got her second goal of the day to bring the Hawks within a score. SUNY New Paltz played great defense to gain possession in the final minute, and the tension hit a peak as the Hawks called timeout after a foul called in the corner with four seconds left. The team wasn't able to connect on the final play, and the buzzer sounded on a heartbreaking loss in the season opener.
"We wanted to keep our focus and composure through the big transitional moments," said Detelj. "We wanted to be in the right spot for our teammates."
The scoreboard may not have been what it was looking for, but SUNY New Paltz got great performances up and down the board. Bovich tallied two assists in addition to her five goals, Hofer had four of her own, and Carullo, Espinoza, and Zito all finished with a multi-goal game. The Red Dragons had four players with hat tricks to the Hawks two, as Toni Cashman, Keech, Lorenzon, and Kiki Meager all had three or more for Cortland.
"They're absolutely fearless and continue to lead in some many aspects of the game," Detelj said about Bovich and Hofer's fantastic performances. "They have a great supporting cast in our attack and they were all looking to make each other look good."
In net, freshman Hailey Aber had a strong college debut, stopping 13 of 31 Red Dragon shots - including a huge one late to keep the game close. On the other end, Paige Potter made seven saves for Cortland on 24 shots.
"She made some big saves in critical moments and gave us a lot of confidence. For goalies they are called upon to make or break momentum in games like this," said Detelj of Aber. "She did a fantastic job making those plays to swing momentum back to us and a veteran composure already to bounce back from a missed save."
While New Paltz was unable to put together their first win against the Red Dragons in program history, it was a strong performance end-to-end, which should excite Hawks fans.
"We had many players making big plays," Detelj said. "From younger players to the veterans to our sideline attitude, everyone was looking to contribute and everyone is still hungry to keep getting better from here."
SUNY New Paltz will have another chance to grab their first win of the season Saturday when they host Plattsburgh at 1p.m.
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