Oneonta, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up the Oneonta Tournament with a convincing 3-0 win over St. Lawrence University Saturday to improve to 2-0 on the season.
 
"Today we really connected our layers through the game," said SUNY New Paltz coach Shanna Szablinski. "We were poised under pressure and made good decisions with the ball. On attack we utilized our width and stretch and continued to play two-touch hockey breaking down St. Lawrence's defense and press."
 
The Hawks opened up their season at home against Ramapo Thursday and didn't have their best performance but battled late in the fourth to walk away with a 1-0 win. They upped their play entering Saturday's contest and dominated the Saints, out-shooting them, 16-6, including 11 shots in the first quarter alone.
 
SUNY New Paltz quickly earned a penalty corner less than two minutes in and kept the ball on the offensive side of the field, rattling off seven shots with two more corners before taking the lead with just more than nine minutes to play in the period. Julia Cummings played the corner in with Natasia Plunkett helping Amanda Quenneville for the latter's first score of the season.
 
The Hawks added on three minutes later, as Hannah Ackerman assisted Miranda Britton to push the lead to 2-0.
 

Mirroring the first quarter, SUNY New Paltz didn't waste any time getting the ball inside the circle to earn a corner just a minute into the period. Cummings played Ackerman who sent a shot on frame but was saved by St. Lawrence's Cara Vredenburg.

With about 20 minutes left in the quarter, SUNY New Paltz put away another with Rachel Tama scoring her first collegiate goal assisted by Shannon Bernhardt to boost the score to 3-0. SUNY New Paltz kept its 3-0 lead throughout the second half with the Saints testing Hawks goalie Gail Comiskey once in the third, in the final minute of the quarter, and twice more in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
 
Comiskey split time with Davin Testo who started the game, with the two finishing with one and four saves, respectively. Ackerman, Tama and Britton each finished with three shots with Tama's three all on goal.
 
"Natasia and Amanda were relentless on attack and had positive outcomes in the circle," Szablinski said. "Hannah and Gov [Emily McGovern] did a great job controlling the middle and drawing the defense, which allowed us to open up and attack our circle. Defensively, Sam Moran and Julia [Cummings] directed and shut down any fast breaks through the middle."
 
SUNY New Paltz closes out the Oneonta Tournament Sunday, playing against Utica at 2 p.m.
 
"Tomorrow we need to continue to work on playing with urgency and going strong to the ball," Szablinski said.

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