Delhi, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's lacrosse team made history Wednesday afternoon at Delhi's home turf. 
 
The Hawks set program history by winning their first game on the road with an impressive offensive performance bringing their winning streak following a dominant, 16-6 win. 
 
"The standard is the standard regardless of who we're playing," said coach Dylan Neisler. "We prepare for everyone as if they're the best team in our conference and today was a good standard day and we played that way through the most of it. We need to play to a certain standard, and guys know what that is and today was a step in the right direction."
 
SUNY New Paltz started off the game early with a John Reese unassisted goal from a failed goalie clearance from Delhi to put the Hawks ahead. Reese finished the game with three goals of his own on three shots on goal. The game started out back-and-forth, with Delhi retaliating with a transition goal just two minutes following. With final seconds left in the first quarter, SUNY Delhi was able to get a man-up opportunity to bring them into the second quarter as a result of a cross check by Ethan Scully. By the end of the quarter, the score stood 4-4. 
 
The man-up opportunity did not intimidate the Hawks, as they displayed their defensive presence throughout the second quarter, leaving the Broncos scoreless for the entire duration. The quarter was quiet offensively, until attacker Thomas Armetta broke the silence with a stinger to bring the Hawks up by one, his eighth goal of the season. Just a minute later, Aiden Jones showed off his shifty and gritty skills to gain possession by winning a ground ball before transitioning to Ryan Scully who finished on a goal to create some more distance.   
With two minutes remaining in the half, Niesler called timeout to maintain composure as the half started to come to a close. Soon following, the Broncos' Donavon Johnson Moline caused a slashing foul to give the Hawks a man-up opportunity. Without hesitation, within just 10 seconds, Ryan Scully ripped his 15th goal of the season assisted by Armetta. The half ended with a score of 7-4. 
 
The Hawks continued their reign going into the second half, silencing Delhi until the final two minutes of the quarter. SUNY New Paltz came out hot, with Jones netting another goal just seconds into the quarter. The Hawks shared the ball throughout the squad, with freshman Colin Cleary adding to the mix and scoring his third goal on the season. Dynamic duo Ethan Scully and Anthony Senecal were able to each net a goal during the quarter, with four different players contributing to the scoreboard. With two minutes remaining, Delhi's Brandon McGrath was able to slip in a goal off transition to end the third quarter with a score of 11-5. 
 
Jones dominated the fourth with two back-to-back goals for the Hawks within the first five minutes. With a successful goalie clear by Ryan Steinhart, Armetta was able to distribute the ball in transition to Jones for a powerful man-down goal. Reese capped off his hat trick day with another goal, assisted by James Flanagan. The Broncos were not able to attack back, with the Hawks holding them to just one goal in the fourth quarter.
 
"It comes down to one style of play that wins games," Neisler said. "When we bleed possessions and play 80 seconds of a shot clock it in turn gives teams less possessions and plays into our strengths. Teams right now try to play in hyper speed and we have an elite goalie and a very good defense and the less times we play in that track meet the better. It limits those opportunities, forces teams to speed up and it leads to turnovers and into the way we want to play the game."
 
The Hawks won virtually every statistical category. They out-shot the Broncos (41-32), had less turnovers (16-20), converted on all but four clears (16-20), picked up more ground balls (35-22) and SUNY New Paltz's goalie Ryan Steinhart made more saves (15) than Delhi's goalie, Samuel Steng (13).  
 
Reese, Armetta, Ryan Scully and Jones all had three goals on the day. Armetta led the team with seven points, four assists, and a ground ball. Jones had two assists for the game, along with five ground balls and one caused turnover. 
 
"We still turned the ball over, we failed too many clears, they're still things we need to improve on and really emphasize where we're at but we're getting to that point where guys see that our style and the way we practice, it works and because of that they're gaining confidence in it," Neisler added. "It's a step in the right direction, maybe not a big enough step but a step in the right direction."
 
SUNY New Paltz will look to take its momentum into Saturday when it begins conference play to face Plattsburgh State home at 1 p.m.

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