Farmingdale, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz went down to Long Island, met by a large crowd of blue and orange, and narrowly came away with a win on the road.
 
The Hawks (0-2 overall) led by two goals early in the third quarter, but after the Rams came back to tie just as the period ended, they went on a 4-0 run that propelled an 11-8 outcome, handing SUNY New Paltz its second loss of the season.
 
Farmingdale (1-1) held the edge on most statistical categories including shots (46-34), turnovers (11-30) and clear percentage (.900-.593), but SUNY New Paltz was in control for most of the game. Although they fired just 18 shots in the first half, the Hawks were efficient with their opportunities on offense.

"Farmingdale has a really good goalie, so we didn't want to give him the opportunity to see the ball," said Hawks coach Dylan Neisler. "For us, we look for specific types of shots and I think the reason why we had success in the first half was we were finding looks that we like in spots that we like."
  
John Reese got the offense started, as he put away his third of the year off a faceoff win by Matt Brignati with Aiden Jones tallying the assist on the quick transition.  
The Rams tied the score with less than four minutes to go in the period, but Ryan Scully found the back of the net off a feed from his brother Ethan a minute later to re-up the lead. Farmingdale took its first advantage of the game after scoring to end the first and quickly tacked on another to open up the second, taking advantage of a check on goalie Ryan Steinhart that created a turnover. Anthony Senecal tied the score after Ethan Scully gave SUNY New Paltz another chance on goal, picking up a loose ball off an initial shot by Thomas Armetta that hit the pipe.
  
The Rams won the following faceoff, but Steinhart came up with the stop and quickly got the ball out in transition leading to a goal by Aiden Jones. Senecal scored his second with more than six minutes to go in the half, answering a goal by the Rams to help keep a one-goal cushion.
 
Steinhart stepped up with back-to-back saves with six minutes to go in the half. The stop then turned into points the other way, as SUNY New Paltz cleared, ran through its set and eventually Jones fed Ryan Scully for another goal to give the Hawks their largest lead of the day at 6-4. However, the Rams scored in the final two minutes before the break taking advantage of a man-up opportunity to trim the difference back down to one.
 
Brignati won the opening half faceoff leading to a shot by Jones, which went wide. The senior picked up his own miss, giving his team another shot at cage that resulted in an Armetta goal off a feed by Ryan Scully to create a 7-5 cushion with 13:44 to play in the third.
 
"Briggs had a great day — I think we have to help him a little bit more with ground balls — but our volunteer coach Jeff [Struzzieri] does an amazing job with him and Quinn [Tucker], giving them tips and really talking through what they see," Neisler said." Briggs had a great day and credit goes to Jeff."  
Farmingdale tied the score at seven with goals at 13:35 and 11:48 remaining in the period. Senecal then pushed his team up once more with just more than a minute remaining, but the Rams won the ensuing faceoff and scored with time ticking down to tie the game at eight entering the fourth.
 
The Rams capitalized on their first offensive possession of the final quarter. Jack Gilbride ripped a shot from the outside that went wide, but Farmingdale maintained the ball and eventually Steven DiCarlo scored his first to give his team the lead.
 
SUNY New Paltz earn the ensuing draw with Senecal firing a shot intended top corner, but Rams goalie Dan Erler made the save. Farmingdale cleared, was patient moving the ball offensively before Jake Wandle beat Steinhart on a low bouncer to create a two-goal cushion. The Rams then added one more with seven minutes left to create the largest difference of the day.
 
The Hawks couldn't cut through the deficit and was held scoreless in the quarter resulting in their second loss of the year.
 
"We got out of what was working for us," Neisler said. "We inverted them... and we had a lot of success. We kept going to it and in the fourth quarter maybe there was a little fatigue, maybe I ran the first line too much, but we got away from that inverted offense… got away from what makes us special and it bit us."
 
Senecal led the way offensively for SUNY New Paltz, holding career-highs in shots (7), points (3) and goals (3). Ryan Scully followed with two goals and an assist, while Jones followed with one goal and two assists with two ground balls. Brignati finished 14-of-22 on faceoffs and totaled five ground balls. Long pole Zachary Leung led the Hawks in the category though, picking up a game-high seven ground balls. Steinhart, meanwhile, finished with 17 saves.

"I thought we were OK," Neisler said. "When you turn the ball over 30 times, what are you going to do? We also had seven failed clears and with the math that we do that's about two and a half goals and that played out today… I thought we played three quarters today. It would be nice to put 60 minutes together, but we're a young team figuring out how to win and how to close. That's where we're at right now."
 
The Hawks are back in action Sunday as they hit the road to face Morrisville at 4:30 p.m.

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