New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's lacrosse team captured its first SUNYAC win in program history against SUNY Oneonta, 13-10 Wednesday on the South Turf Field
 
The Hawks started out hot and kept the momentum throughout the entirety of the game to solidify the historic win in their home season finale on Senior Day, as they honored graduating seniors Jozef Harvan and Joseph Bradbury prior to the game.

"I'm at a loss for words," said SUNY New Paltz coach Dwayne Stewart. "I'm so proud of my guys. They earned this. They deserve this one. We've been fighting the entire year for this. We've been faced with diversity and we come out on the right side of it. I'm extremely happy with them and it feels good when they are happy. I'm happy."
 
Defender Zachary Leung carried the ball up from the defensive end to give SUNY New Paltz an attacking chance. The ball found junior attacker Thomas Armetta who started out the scoring for the game as he finished with a team-high five goals, while adding an assist to his stat line. 
 
After the Hawks lost possession in transition, the Red Dragons worked the ball around until the last second on the shot clock where they made it past sophomore goalie Ryan Steinhart to bring the game to a 1-1 tie. SUNY New Paltz didn't let that slide, soon after freshman midfielder Anthony Senecal ran the ball across the cage passing to Armetta who put in his second for the day to take back a 2-1 lead.
 
"Oneonta plays as a zone defense and we've been very good at picking apart zone defenses from an attacking standpoint and I knew that this was going to happen," said Stewart. 
 
Oneonta managed to pull ahead 3-2 until freshman attacker James Flannagan made a pass to junior midfielder Aidan Gregory to tie the score with about a minute left in the quarter. With just a few seconds left in the period, Armetta rounded the crease to put in his third of the game and pulled SUNY New Paltz ahead to enter the second quarter.
The second started slowly until a Red Dragon goal with eight minutes left in the quarter got the scoring re-started. Oneonta's Kieran Rowley made a move past junior midfielder Zach Schmidt and shot past Steinhart to break the tie, but Senecal evened the score with just 45 seconds left in the half and Steinhart came up big in the second quarter making seven of his game-high 15 saves. 
 
"First ever SUNYAC win. It feels amazing. We've been working the whole year. We've gotten close, but today we finally made it happen," Steinhart said. "We learned how to finish out a game, and there's no better feeling for Senior Night. I'm so happy for them that we did this for them. It feels amazing." 
 
"Steiny stood on his head," added Stewart. "He's been great for us the entire year, but Steiny has definitely shown his worth in the SUNYAC and I'm so proud of him."
 
The Hawks fought hard to start the third quarter earning themselves a 7-5 lead with goals by sophomore attacker John Reese and Armetta with his fourth of the game. The Red Dragons didn't allow the lead for long, scoring less than a minute after Armetta's goal. Oneonta once again tied the score with a low shot past Steinhart with three minutes left in the quarter. Armetta then added his fifth and final of the game with the help of freshman midfielder and faceoff specialist Ethan Scully. 
 
Oneonta opened the fourth quarter strong, capitalizing on a faceoff win to score less than 30 seconds into the period to knot the score at 8-8. The Red Dragons continued their pressure on the Hawks, forcing them into the corner on an attempted clear. In an effort to get a pass back to Steinhart just outside his crease, Oneonta stepped in and intercepted the pass and scored on the empty net to take a 9-8 advantage.
 
The Hawks quickly recovered with freshman attacker James Flannagan scoring back-to-back on nearly identical goals, which ignited a three-goal run. Oneonta snuck one last goal in with 27 seconds left but it wasn't enough to get closer to SUNY New Paltz's cushion, finalizing the 13-10 outcome. 
 
"Honestly, I wish we had another game to play right now because I'm so fired up that they were able to get the job done and complete the assignment and do it with effort and with love," Stewart said. "And because they did that, we were able to come out with W. So extremely proud of that."

The Hawks look to build off their momentum and possibly win their second straight in the SUNYAC as they play their final game of the season Saturday against SUNY Plattsburgh on the road at 1 p.m.

Post-Game Interview with Ryan Steinhart


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