New Paltz, NY --- The State University of New York at New Paltz men's lacrosse team lost to visiting SUNY Plattsburgh Friday, 15-7.

The Hawks (0-6 overall, 0-5 SUNYAC), despite scoring the opening goal of the game just 40 seconds after the first half whistle, struggled in the first half and were out-possessed and out-shot by the Cardinals (2-5, 2-3) who rode a 9-1 lead into the second half.

"I just told them that we're not running our system and we're doing good things in the middle of the field, which has been our Achilles heel the entire season," said SUNY New Paltz coach Dwayne Stewart. "Once halftime hit the guys realized we weren't running our system and they made an effort to do that in the second half and that's why we were able to see some success on the offensive side of the field."

Zach Schmidt got the Hawks on the board to start the second half, finishing off a feed from Aiden Jones. Prior to the possession, Ryan Steinhart, who came in to start the last 30 minutes for sophomore Nate Lindsey, made a nice save on a shot from Plattsburgh's Stephen Kane to get his team possession following a successful clear. SUNY New Paltz stayed patient and ran through its offense until Jones found Schmidt for the goal.
 

The Hawks had an opportunity to tally their second-straight after the Cardinals were a man-down due to an offside call, but they couldn't take advantage and turned the ball back over after Jones was called on a cross check after trying to get the ball back for his team. Plattsburgh waited out the penalty and then in turn took advantage of the man-up situation itself with a goal by Amos Grimm.

After a turnover by Plattsburgh, SUNY New Paltz earned back possession and fired a shot that went wide of the target. Able to get the ball back for another attempt, the Hawks made sure to capitalize. Jones fed a pass to Ryan Scully who ripped his first of the day in the back of the net for the score with about six minutes left in the quarter. 
The Cardinals answered before the quarter concluded, scoring following another turnover by SUNY New Paltz with Grimm netting his second.

Thomas Armetta began the final quarter with a goal three minutes in, picking up a loose ball in front of the cage and burying it for his third of the season. Plattsburgh answered off a turnover on a bad pass from the Hawks on their clear. Connor Wolff took advantage for the Cardinals. About two minutes later the visitors created another 10-goal cushion with Tanner Tobias this time capitalizing on a failed clear.

Armetta helped his team to another after winning the ground ball off the ensuing draw. The Hawks had a long offensive possession, firing three shots – all saved – but finally scored on their fourth attempt with Armetta netting his second of the day off a pass from Scully. On its next offensive possession, SUNY New Paltz remained patient offensively and ran through their set. The Hawks garnered two attempts by Greg Gurello before Scully found the back of the net on the third try to cut the lead, 14-6 with about eight minutes to play.

Following another goal by Plattsburgh, Zach Schmidt put away one more for the Hawks to solidify the 15-7 outcome.

The Cardinals out-shot the Hawks 56-36 in the game, including 32-13 in the first half. Each team struggled with turnovers with SUNY New Paltz having slightly more, 22-20, but Plattsburgh dominated in the circle and won 20 of 25 faceoffs to help the visitors control possession for most of the game.

"It's tough, because that is where momentum is built in the middle of the field whether it's riding and clearing or whether it's winning faceoffs," Stewart said. "We had our No. 1 go down with an ACL injury definitely hurt us, but it is what it is. We need to find ways to be productive and successful. We have one more game against Oneonta and we need to continue to figure out what that's going to look like for us."

Scully was the catalyst offensively, registering two goals and two assists with a ground ball and one caused turnover. Armetta followed with two goals and an assist with three ground ball pick-ups.

"I think we did a better job of running our sets, but it's still not at the level where we need to in order to be satisfied — we're young. We are going to be inconsistent, but we definitely need to get better in a lot of areas in the game in order for us to really have success on game day," Stewart added.

The Hawks end their season at home April 30 when they host SUNY Oneonta on the South Turf Field at 4 p.m.

*********
To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.