Fredonia, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz lost its last game of the regular season on the road Saturday to hosting Fredonia State, 1-0.
 
The Hawks (8-5-4 overall, 4-2-3 SUNYAC) were in prime position to secure a top two seed in the SUNYAC Tournament with a win or even a tie, but did not play their best against the 6-8-2, 3-5-1 Blue Devils and with the loss dropped to the No. 4 seed entering the conference tournament beginning Saturday.
 
"We will not move forward until we figure out a way to handle adversity as a team," said Hawks coach Mike Eckberg. "We did an extremely poor job of finishing the opportunities we created. This is not the form you look to have or create going into postseason."
 
SUNY New Paltz out-shot Fredonia14-5 overall and 8-4 in shots on goal, but the Blue Devils were the only team to find the back of the net in the match. Gabriella Irwin broke the stalemate in the 33rd minute cleaning up in front of net with the Hawks struggling to clear the ball out of their box following a cross played back post.    
Despite garnering eight shots and a pair of corners in the second half, SUNY New Paltz couldn't find the equalizer with its typically potent offense which was held scoreless for the third-straight game.
 
Rachel Eisert led the Hawks with four shots, two on target, followed by Gaby Treble and Brooke Kelleher both with two. Maddie Franklin finished with three saves in 90 minutes played.
 
SUNY New Paltz enters postseason play Saturday, as it will host No. 5 seed Oswego on South Turf Field Oct. 28 in the quarterfinal round.

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