New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz collected three more points in the conference Wednesday after earning a 4-1 win over visiting SUNY Potsdam at South Turf Field.
 
The victory pushed the Hawks to 8-4-3 overall and 5-2-1 in SUNYAC play with 16 points to sit in fourth in the conference standings after SUNY Oneonta defeated SUNY Cortland Wednesday.
 
"It was really important for us to get three points in our last [regular season] home game to luckily capitalize on this opportunity to get through the playoffs," said SUNY New Paltz senior Gabriel Cruz. "It was really important for us in moving forward too."
 
The Hawks dominated the first half, playing balls inside the Bears 18-yard box throughout the opening 45 minutes of play to ultimately out-shoot them, 10-1 before the break. Joseph DiPreta finally found the back of the net for the hosts as the sophomore ripped a low strike to the far bottom corner about 30 yards out, beating Potsdam keeper Lucas Schiel for the game's opening score.
 
The Bears upped their play to start the second half and found early chances within their offensive third in the first 10 minutes of the period but couldn't finish on their opportunities in front of goal. In turn, SUNY New Paltz doubled down on its lead with Philip Varner finishing his fifth of the season.
 
The scoring chance started on the opposite sideline, as Colin Brant won possession back down the flank. The ball was then played into the box to Ryan Hilliard who weaved a pass through a Bears defender to the feet of Varner and the senior struck a well-placed shot far corner for the goal.
 
 
Potsdam answered in the 62nd minute to trim the Hawks lead in half with Anderson Velasquez finding Owen Santos in the six for the goal. The Bears narrowly tied the match in the 70th with Justin Mossey whipping in a cross to an open Luke Clark at the edge of the six whose header went just wide of frame.
 
"We definitely started off slow," Cruz said. "I felt like unfortunately again, it took for them scoring for us to kind of bounce back and give us a wakeup call. We were lucky enough to get the next three goals and hopefully in our next game we are able to come through and play the full 90. That's just something we've been struggling with."
 
SUNY New Paltz had some help though on its next goal, which changed the momentum of the rest of the half. Michael Horner played a lofted ball into the box that Schiel mishandled. Cruz was there to capitalize on the miscue, tapping in the loose ball and push his team's lead to 3-1 with 13 minutes to play. The Hawks held possession for the rest of the match and Cruz added another insurance goal in the 85th minute to solidify the win. Finding space in between two defenders, Cruz sat and turned on a ball played in by Alex Wyant and saw a 1-v-1 with Schiel and the senior calmly slotted his second of the game and fourth of the year to close out the 4-1 win.
 
"Definitely feels good to get two goals and help the team out," Cruz said. "The first one was a little lucky, but I'll take it and the second I was through and just placed it low and hard, right through the keeper's legs. It's nice to make an impact like that off the bench and help the team get the win."
 
SUNY New Paltz out-shot Potsdam, 21-7 over 90 minutes while drawing four corners to the Bears' one. Varner led the team offensively with six shots, four on frame, in 85 minutes of action. Cruz finished with a career-high two goals on two shots. Christian Micheli played the full 90 in goal for the Hawks and had two saves, while Schiel finished with six.
 
SUNY New Paltz closes out the regular season on the road at Oswego State Saturday for a 1 p.m. match.  

Post-Game Interview with Gabriel Cruz


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