New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz rebounded from a disappointing performance on the road against SUNY Geneseo Saturday and competed to an overtime finish against visiting Ithaca Tuesday on North Turf Field.
 
The Hawks (7-4 overall) played strong, created turnovers and developed multiple chances in the circle and around cage but couldn't generate enough goals to get past the Bombers and ultimately fell, 2-1 in extra time.
 
"Saturday was a failure for us, but with failure comes opportunity to get better," said SUNY New Paltz coach Shanna Szablinski. "We failed. It wasn't failure. We didn't accept it as failure. We failed and one of the things we said was we needed to surge forward, and this was the opportunity take that failure and learn from our mistakes. We did adapt and we did adjust from things that we weren't finding success on Saturday, and we did really well today, but at the end of the day we still got to figure out how we can capitalize on a lot of opportunities with our shots inside the circle."
 
The Hawks were in command for the majority of the game and the stat sheet reflected the play on the field with the hosts out-shooting Ithaca, 22-9, including 17-7 on goal with SUNY New Paltz generating 11 penalty corners to the Bombers four. But, despite the lopsided numbers, the Hawks found the back of the cage just once — on a game-tying score with five minutes left in regulation — finishing for the third-straight contest with just one goal offensively.
 
 
"Their goalkeeper just did a tremendous job and was just all over the place," Szablinski said. "We had a lot of opportunities. We just could not execute. We executed to get into overtime, which was great, but there were times where the ball was on the line, the ball was in front of the cage and it's kind of that theme of kick, bite and scratch, whatever it takes to get it in. Sometimes when you play with hesitancy when that ball drops, assuming it goes in, then there comes the goalkeeper making a save or their defender. But, I think overall we played very well."
 
Amanda Quenneville had a chance to push the Hawks up 1-0 midway through the first quarter as the sophomore ran onto a ball played through, beat her defender and had a 1-v-1 with Bombers goalie Macy Brandwein who came out to make Quenneville take a long enough touch to disrupt her angle with her shot hitting the outside of goal.
 
SUNY New Paltz all but took the lead in the second quarter, as Quenneville put another shot on Brandwein with the ball sneaking behind her in a scrum. Miranda Britton tapped the loose into the cage, but the whistle blew just before signaling for a corner instead.  
The Hawks had near chances throughout the game, narrowly adding one with about 90 seconds to play in the half. Quenneville once again was the benefactor, as she played a ball into the circle that was deflected by Rachel Tama before rolling to Miranda Britton, who guided the ball toward goal. Brandwein recovered quick, dove and made the save before the ball crossed the goal line leading to a long hit.
 
Ithaca earned a penalty corner in the opening minutes of the third quarter with Davin Testo coming out to make a nice save and Emily McGovern there to help clear. SUNY New Paltz then transitioned down field and earned back-to-back penalty corners. Tama helped create the first chance, but the opportunity didn't lead to an attempt on goal. However, the ball never left the defensive half for the Bombers as Tama won the ball back on the re-defend, which led to another corner. On the second try, the Hawks saw a good chance for the go-ahead score with Cummings trying to find the near post, but Brandwein came up with another save to hold the stalemate.
 
Ithaca took advantage with a slight momentum swing and sustained its best offensive stretch with a dangerous shot on frame that Testo did well to stymie away. However, the Hawks were unable to clear and following a turnover deep in their defensive zone, the Bombers registered the game's first score with eight minutes to go in the third quarter.
 
SUNY New Paltz worked hard in the fourth for the equalizer. It totaled six shots and four corners before finally capitalizing on a penalty corner that was created on a nice play from freshman Angelina Regels to find Tama inside resulting in the penalty corner. Julia Cummings played the ball into Shannon Bernhardt and the fifth year ripped a laser through traffic that found the far corner for the equalizer.
 
The Hawks controlled the ball for the opening minutes of overtime and Bernhardt had a good look on cage for the game-winner, as she wound up for a strong strike that deflected off an Ithaca stick and out of play. The Bombers finally caught SUNY New Paltz, and got the ball downfield with Natalie Descalso making a nice move to beat a defender then lifting her shot over a diving Testo for the game deciding goal.
 
"I thought we made a lot of great adjustments from Saturday," Szablinski said. "We just couldn't finish and you got to put the ball in the net. That's hard when you come off a game where you did things to find success — we just did not execute."
 
Bernhardt led the team with six shots, five of which were on target. Quenneville followed with four and Hannah Ackerman added three. Cummings totaled two shots, an assist and a defensive save for the Hawks. Testo finished with four saves, while Brandwein ended with 10 stops.
 
SUNY New Paltz returns to North Turf Field Saturday when they host Morrisville State in a SUNYAC matchup at 1 p.m.

Hawks Field Hockey vs. Ithaca Highlights


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