New Paltz, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz improved to 4-0 on the season after dominating through most of four quarters Wednesday against visiting Skidmore.
 
The Hawks out-shot the Thoroughbreds 17-12 in the game, including 15-7 in the first 45 minutes to help take a 3-0 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Skidmore threatened the lead late in the fourth, getting on the board in the 51st minute and sustained an attack in the final seven minutes of the game, but SUNY New Paltz held on to earn the 3-1 win.
 
"I thought we had some good moments where we were possessing nicely, we were generating moments inside the circle," said Hawks coach Shanna Szablinski. "We scored when we needed to, which was good. I think something moving forward and our fall back today, was we playing very passive defense and giving a lot of space inside our defensive 25 and they had us on our heels in the fourth quarter. We were lucky we were able to get the ball out and maintain possession, but it's something that we will be honing in on this week moving into Rochester. We're scoring goals, but we just need to be more disciplined defensively. Good habits go a long way."
 
The Hawks had scoring chances early on in the first quarter getting dangerous passes in front of goal that narrowly found the back of the cage. They continued to put pressure on Skidmore's defense and held possession in their offensive half for the majority of the second period with the Thoroughbreds not finding the inside of their offensive circle until three minutes left in the quarter.
 
After consecutive penalty corners, SUNY New Paltz finally struck with less than a minute remaining in the half. Julia Cummings played in another corner to Hannah Ackerman who found Shannon Bernhardt. Bernhardt took her space, dribbled in and sent a shot toward goal, which was tipped by Natasia Plunkett for her fourth goal in the past two games to put her team ahead, 1-0.
 
"I think we've really been focusing on creating space and taking that space offensively, so making sure we're re-cutting on the sideline and once we're receiving the ball, making sure we're touching into space so we can get the ball up and ahead and get going," Plunkett said. "I think we found a lot more success when we were taking the ball at speed, so either making quick passes or making those quick passes up the line and really taking the ball to goal."  
Ackerman pushed the lead to 2-0 midway through the third quarter with the Hawks again capitalizing off a penalty corner opportunity. Cummings sent the corner to Ackerman who took a touch a ripped a shot from the top of the circle that found the right side of the cage for her second of the year. Rachel Tama then capped the offensive onslaught by SUNY New Paltz with a goal to start the fourth quarter.

"The idea of getting into that circle and having a positive outcome and we definitely did with having opportunities to shoot, draw corners and even get the ball back and work it around again," Szablinski said. "That's definitely something moving forward we want to continue to do."
 
The advantage was cut back down to two, two minutes later though by the Thoroughbreds, and for the last eight minutes, the Hawks defense along with goalie Davin Testo stepped up to alleviate Skidmore's attack as the visitors earned two of its five corners of the period in the final three minutes of the game. Testo came up big with a pair of stops with SUNY New Paltz holding on to finish with the two-goal win.
 
Plunkett led her team with five shots, followed by Ackerman with four and Tama with three. Testo played the full 60 minutes and finished with nine saves in the win.
 
The Hawks are back home Saturday with another tough test against the University of Rochester. Game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
 
"Rochester is a great team," said Szablinski. "So, what we need to continue to do is work on playing better defense inside our circle and getting our feet where they need to be versus getting panicky with our sticks."

Post-Game Interview Featuring Natasia Plunkett


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