New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's lacrosse team (1-7 overall, 0-2 SUNYAC)  fell 15-4 to SUNY Geneseo (4-5, 2-0) in their second conference game of the season Saturday on South Turf Field. 
 
Genseo's strongest quarter was the first where they scored five goals and tallied a game high of 19 shots, holding the Hawks scoreless with just two shots had. Senior attacker Kevin Cook accounted for three of five goals, and he ended with a game high of four goals for the Knights, but SUNY New Paltz's defense slowed the momentum each quarter going forward. 
 
The Hawks struggled to find attacking opportunities until the end of the second quarter. Sophomore attacker John Reese found the net for SUNY New Paltz with 3:09 left in the first half. Reese put in his second and final of the game shortly after by picking up a ground ball from off the initial save by Geneseo's goalie, making the score 7-2. The Knights finalized the scoring for the half, rounding the crease and putting one in with just two seconds to go in the half to improve their lead to 8-2.
 
 
"They ran a 10 man press and we couldn't figure out how to break it," said SUNY New Paltz coach Dwayne Stewart. "I don't think we worked hard enough to break what they were trying to do. That's something that we'll focus on this week in practice."
 
Geneseo came out strong to start the second half scoring two and half minutes in, capitalizing on a turnover by the Hawks in their attacking end. The Knights quick passing earned them another just three minutes later before cashing in another two with 3:30 left in the quarter, pushing their lead to 13-2.
 
"Geneseo was a really good team, we knew they were going to compete really hard and give us this look and we understood that," Stewart said. "Now we just [have] to continue the course and continue to fight."
  The Hawks fought hard in the last 15 minutes creating more attacking opportunities but struggled to get shots off. However, when they did they began to find some success. Freshman midfielder Anthony Senecal scored with 4:23 left in the game. Senior defender Joseph Bradbury fought hard in the backfield to bring the ball all the way up to the attacking end, with a couple of passes the ball found Senecal for a hard shot past the Knights goalie. With just less than two minutes left, junior midfielder Aidan Jones took a hard shot from the center to close out the scoring for the Hawks. After a foul during the faceoff, Geneseo earned a last minute scoring opportunity and capitalized. SUNY New Paltz took a couple more shots in the last few seconds attempting to add another. 
 
Reese led the team with two goals, followed by Senecal and Jones with a goal apiece, all unassisted. Bradbury had a team-high five ground balls, while Ryan Steinhart made 21 saves for the Hawks. 
 
"I'm proud of the way that the kids compete," Stewart said. " We never give up. We just [have] to continue to work our systems and figure out what to do against certain concepts that are thrown at us. We'll keep working. We'll keep fighting."

SUNY New Paltz plays again Tuesday at 4 p.m. against Delhi on the South Turf Field.

Game Highlights


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