New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's lacrosse team had playoff implications on the line Saturday in its regular season finale against visiting SUNY Cortland.

The Hawks (5-3 overall, 5-3 SUNYAC) had a daunting task of defeating the No. 17 nationally ranked Red Dragons (9-1, 7-0) for the first time in program history in order to guarantee a spot in the postseason. However, a couple turnovers were the difference in the game, as Cortland took advantage of second-chance possessions and ultimately earned the 16-9 victory.

"We can't give a team like that second chances," said SUNY New Paltz coach Keith Detelj. "Whether it is a ground ball in the eight where we slide really well and the defense did a good job of closing stuff and getting the ball on the ground ---  it's just one of those games where when you give a good team extra chances the game can slip away from you and that's kind of what happened."

After Cortland took an early 2-0 lead, a strong defensive stand led to a Tara Bovich goal on the offensive side for the Hawks. Bovich dodged her defender, switched to her right hand and then back to her left to net her team's first of the day.
 

Keydy Espinoza was given a yellow with about 20 minutes left to play in the half and the Red Dragons earned a free position with the man-up opportunity. Hailey Aber (nine saves) made the stop for SUNY New Paltz on the attempt. After picking up the ground ball on the ensuing possession, the Hawks ate the clock until getting to full strength once again. The Red Dragons eventually added to their lead with about 17 minutes remaining, taking advantage of a bad pass by SUNY New Paltz to earn another possession, but the Hawks made another defensive stand, forcing a turnover and capitalized on the other end with Katie Zito earning a free position after getting inside on her defender. Zito netted her free position attempt with about 15 minutes to go and made the score, 3-2 Cortland.

Kiki Meager pushed the Red Dragons ahead by two with about eight and a half minutes left, but Ella Malanga quickly cut the difference back to one. Malanga picked up the ground ball on her team's defensive side of the restraining line and started transition for the Hawks. She pushed the ball down field and found a gap heading to goal, squeezed through two defenders and scored her ninth of the season.
 

GOAALLL!!!@ellamalanga33 picks up the gb runs in transition, earns the free position & scores to cut Cortland lead 4-2 w about 7min left in the half! @newpaltzlax #NPHawks #NPWlax pic.twitter.com/qbs940U0Gf

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) April 24, 2021

Cortland took a 5-3 lead into halftime, as Celia Procopio found the back of the net with just a minute remaining, but the Red Dragons began distancing themselves at the start of the second half. They rattled off two goals to open up the period. Tara Bovich ended the run with Maddy Carullo helping out by picking up a ground ball off Bovich's initial shot attempt on a free position. Bovich took advantage of the second chance, finding the ball in her stick and whipping a shot into the cage for the score.

"I think we just moved a couple people off the field a little bit more and we just said that we need to be more aware of finding pockets," Detelj said of his team's clear against Cortland's zone ride. "We've done well with our clear all year, so it was just a matter of a couple minutes to figure it out."

Cortland answered with a 3-0 run and the Hawks trailed by six with about 20 minutes remaining. They got close to a rally but never recovered from the deficit.

Bovich scored back-to-back goals to get her team within four at 12-8 with about 15 minutes left, but following a timeout by the Red Dragons, the visitors responded with two more goals of their own.
Hofer, who went into the game with a SUNYAC East leading 36 goals and three shy of the SUNY New Paltz's program record, was face-guarded the entire game with the Cortland playing a zone defense except on Hofer. The senior didn't get many opportunities with the ball at her stick and finally found a little bit of space toward the end of the second half. She had her best look at the cage with about five minutes left and fired a shot near the top of the arc, but a good defensive play by the Red Dragons, able to get a stick on the attempt, deflected the ball away and the visitors quickly got the ball up the field in transition and scored on the other end to make the score 15-9.

With the Hawks adding high pressure needing extra possessions with time waning, Cortland took advantage and added one more insurance goal with two minutes left to solidify the final score.

Despite limited touches offensively, Hofer still worked to come away with three draw controls to go along with her one shot attempt. Hofer finishes her career with 127 total goals, second-most all-time.

"We were using her a lot in our two-man's to make sure there wasn't any slide off of a good, hard dodge and seeing if we could find her through some off-ball picks," Detelj said. "I hand it to Cortland. They are super athletic, so it made it really hard for her to find the ball a lot, so congratulations to them. Amy just did a hard job of kind of being some other role today and she's a good teammate for doing that. She still found the ball and still found some opportunities."

Bovich led the way offensively for her team, scoring five goals on seven attempt, while adding two ground balls on the day. Bovich finishes her career with 107 total goals, fifth-most in program history.

Freshman Katilyn Shaw had another impressive performance. She finished with a team-leading four caused turnovers with two ground balls and an assist. Shannon Brosnan led the team with five draw controls to go along with one ground ball and one caused turnover.

The Hawks end their season at 5-3 overall, suffering two losses to Cortland and one to Oneonta in the COVID- shortened season. They lose a coveted senior class that has set the new standard for the program, and who was a part of various team-firsts, including first-time wins over SUNY Oneonta in 2021, Buffalo State in 2019 and the team's first playoff appearance in 2019.

Along with Hofer and Bovich, Espinoza (draw controls) and Haley Timarky (saves) are both cemented in the Hawks career record books, but all seven seniors: Bovich, Hofer, Timarky, Espinoza, Alexandria Galvez, Megan Tornatore and Ashley Bartolone have made a tremendous impact on the program during their four-year run.

"I don't think we have enough tape for talking about them," Detelj said. "I think they have been through every portion of building a program and they are very special unit that is respected throughout the whole, entire team and I am very proud of what they've done. It is an amazing job that they've put in over the last four years."

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