POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's soccer team lost its second game of the season Wednesday afternoon in difficult fashion to the Vassar College Brewers by a score of 1-0. 

In a game that was tied nearly all the way through, Vassar's Andrew Goldsmith drew a penalty in the 86th minute and subsequently scored, putting the Brewers up 1-0, the only score of the game.  

It was a tough pill to swallow for a Hawks team that played tough throughout, getting solid scoring attempts on multiple occasions but was just never able to capitalize. 

Both goalkeepers, Marc DePasquale for the Hawks and Eric Wnorowski for the Brewers, played solid games in net, with seven saves between them. DePasquale finished with three and Wnorowski four. 

Four of the Hawks' five first half shots were on goal, with the most promising attempt being a James Maltes diving header in the 31st minute that was saved by a lunging Wnorowski. Maltes finished the contest with two shots. Wnorowski also saved quality attempts by Brandon Davenport and Phlip Varner. Davenport had two shots (one on goal), and both of Varner's attempts were on frame. The closest Davenport and Varner two came to scoring happened during the same sequence, when a Davenport shot was deflected and a follow-up shot by Varner was saved. DePasquale was the less busy of the two keepers in the opening half, with his two saves coming early on. 

The second half was just as competitive and tense, with both teams continuing solid play on both sides of the ball. Davenport had a shot go wide right in the 52nd minute, while Maltes attempted a crosser that went wide of the goal. Vassar also threatened on a few occasions, with DePasquale getting his hands on a strong Brewers' attempt in the 64th minute to keep the score tied. The next couple times Vassar was in Hawks territory, DePasquale corralled two softly hit attempts. 

SUNY New Paltz coach Kyle Clancy was complimentary of his team's offense throughout the contest. "We created some really good chances in the first half and even in the second," he said. "While the shots didn't develop, we had several very good opportunities to create goals." 

Eighty minutes in, the score remained 0-0 after Maltes' aforementioned attempt went wide of goal and carried out of bounds. It seemed like the contest was headed to overtime. 

That was until the 86th minute when Goldsmith drew a penalty on Hawks midfielder Joseph DiPreta that resulted in a yellow card for the freshman. Goldsmith's shot found the back of the net on the ensuing penalty to put the Brewers up, 1-0. 

"The penalty was tough to tell, but there were two very controversial calls at the end that didn't go our way," Clancy said. 

The Hawks responded to the goal by substituting back into the game potent offensive weapons Davenport, Varner, Ryan Hilliard, and Spencer Ryczek, but they were unable to even up the score. 

The loss for SUNY New Paltz was its first in 11 days, when the Hawks lost to No. 21 nationally ranked Rowan University Sept. 4 by a 1-0 score, and it also snapped their three-game winning streak. At 4-2, they are now tied with SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Fredonia, SUNY Plattsburgh, and SUNY Oswego in the loss column. Their four wins, however, are tied for the most in the conference along with Buffalo State, who is 4-1, and The College at Brockport, which is 4-1-1. 

Despite the defeat, Clancy felt that his team was the better side Wednesday. "In the end, we were the better team that created more dangerous chances, as the game went on gaining control of the game." 

With the Hawks winners of three of their last four, they will look to this weekend's game against King's College to get back on track. Clancy said the loss to Vassar is something the team will learn from, while acknowledging the things that the team can improve on. 

"In these games against good opponents, we have to make our chances count and learn to manage the game better," he said.

SUNY New Paltz will look to make its chances count Saturday, with a quick turnaround, as it travels to Wilkes Barre, PA to take on the Valiants for a 6 p.m. start.

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