New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz lost to No. 19 SUNY Cortland Wednesday on North Turf Field, 16-3.
 
The Hawks (8-5 overall, 4-3 SUNYAC) played well defensively, backed by a solid performance in net by freshman Gabby Tommaso (eight saves), but they struggled getting the ball past a tenacious Red Dragons ride and had trouble maintaining possession with Cortland piling on to stay undefeated in the SUNYAC.
 
History was still set through the lopsided loss, however, as senior defender Ella Malanga came up with a team-leading five caused turnovers, which pushed her to first on the program's single-season list with 28 caused turnovers on the year. Malanga, who took last season off, has thrived in SUNY New Paltz's zone defense and has been a big part in the success SUNY New Paltz has had defensively this season.
 
After Kaitlyn Shaw gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead to start the game, SUNY New Paltz's defense held Cortland on three-straight defensive stands but couldn't clear the ball down field with the Red Dragons taking advantage with a goal with 11 minutes to go in the quarter.
 
 
Three straight failed clears ultimately resulted in a free position attempt for Cortland to give the visitors its first lead of the day. Tommaso made a nice save on another free position attempt on the next Red Dragons offensive possession, but the Hawks threw the ball away on their clear and Cortland capitalized with another score. The Red Dragons quickly added to their lead straight off the ensuing draw with Tommaso then coming up with another free position stop with two minutes left, but Cortland was there on the rebound with a quick-stick goal to push the lead to 5-1.
 
SUNY New Paltz held the Red Dragons to just two scores in the second quarter and went into halftime with just a 7-1 deficit, but the second half played out much like the first with the Hawks having trouble holding onto the ball. Cortland scored four in the third, resulting in a running clock.
 
Morgan Atwater scored the Hawks' second goal of the game to start the fourth, finishing on a nice feed by Shannon Brosnan off stick side for the score. Alyssa Indelicato rounded out the offense for SUNY New Paltz scoring in the final seconds on a fast break, assisted by Maddie Gillis.
 
Cortland out-shot SUNY New Paltz, 32-14. Both teams were high on turnovers, as the Red Dragons held the slight edge, 22-21 with most of the Hawks' turnovers coming in transition as they went 8-for-21 on clears. The Red Dragons owned the battle on 50-50's as they totaled 17 ground balls to SUNY New Paltz's nine with Cortland winning 17 draw controls to SUNY New Paltz's five.
 
The Hawks totaled 18 caused turnovers with Brosnan following Malanga with three to go along with two ground balls and two draw controls. Gillis followed with two caused turnovers, two ground balls and one assist.
 
Despite the defeat, the Hawks locked in a playoff spot following the results across the SUNYAC on Wednesday. SUNY New Paltz earned its second-straight berth into the conference tournament, the first time in program history to do so with its third appearance all time.
 
SUNY New Paltz regular season concludes with two pivotal road matchups, starting with SUNY Brockport Saturday and SUNY Oneonta April 26.

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