Brockport, NY — Since the inception of the program, the State University of New York at New Paltz dealt through adversity.
 
First two seasons of existance were shortened due to COVID-19, it went into this season without a coach until late into the fall and entering year three it had won just one game in the conference. The resiliency through it all came to a forefront Saturday at Brockport, changed by an overtime game-winner from Anthony Senecal.
 
Senecal rolled the crease, beating two Golden Eagle defenders, found some space and ripped a shot top corner to push the Hawks to an 8-7 overtime win and clinching his team a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs for the first time in program history.
 
"These guys have come a long way," said SUNY New Paltz coach Dylan Neisler. "I remember four years ago when [inaugural coach] Dwayne [Stewart] and I started this we were struggling, trying to teach them how to be great teammates, how to move on to the next play and all that stuff. If you look at Ant, he's killing it. He turns the ball over in the corner and guess who sticks it in the end. Who do we go to. We put the ball in his stick when we know they're going to double on a man down. In overtime, we put the ball in Ant's stick, and he made the next play. He's special. And it's as simple as that."
 
Neisler returned to a program he helped start as an assistant four years ago and in turn guided the team to an 8-6 overall and 4-3 conference mark, pitting the fourth seeded Hawks against top seeded Geneseo Wednesday in the semifinal round.
 
"It means everything and for those guys. It was the goal at the beginning of the year. It's all they talked about, but to be honest they make my job easy," Neisler said. "I don't have to do much. I just look at a few of them and they handled things that needed to be handled — offense, defense, those four guys even our backup goalie Nate Lindsey is a captain for us, and that just speaks to that senior class. They handle a lot of stuff. The first person to go to [Ryan Steinhart] when that goal went in with three seconds left was Nate Lindsey, so no man, that group is special. They grew up and learned how to be men. It is what it is."
 
 
SUNY New Paltz jumped out to a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Golden Eagles gained momentum in the second and tied the score at fours at halftime.
 
The final 15 minutes was a nail-biter with the Hawks struggling to gain extended possessions on offense, but junior goalie Ryan Steinhart and SUNY New Paltz's defense stepped up to keep them in the game.
 
Brockport took its first lead of the game four minutes into the fourth on a man-up goal. John Reese tied the score late in the shot clock with Senecal feeding the junior attacker before getting hit hard as seconds winded down. Senecal then gave his team the lead on a goal off a feed from Ryan Scully with just less than seven minutes to go. The Scully-Senecal connection came through again, as the two combined for another score with five minutes to go.
 
Out of a timeout with two minutes left, the Golden Eagles capitalized with a score to trim the deficit to one. SUNY New Paltz had a prime opportunity to put the game away with Brockport hit with a penalty on an offside call, but with 18 seconds left Senecal lost the ball in the corner and gave Brockport life. Chaos ensued as two balls were in play on the field, calling back a failed clear by the Golden Eagles. The hosts took advantage, as they scored with seconds remaining to tie the score at 7-7 and forcing overtime.
 
"That resiliency just comes from everything that we've just been through as a group," Senecal said. "I mean, first half of the year we didn't even know we were going to have a coach. We went through so much adversity and we know how to stick together. We're a family. We always preach that. We live for each other. We do everything for each other and I love these guys. We're in it until the end."
 
Despite all the momentum swung to Brockport, SUNY New Paltz regrouped and once again showed its grit killing a penalty to start before getting a chance on offense. Neisler put the ball back in the stick of Senecal and he rewarded his coach to make the play of the game. Brockport, still in a man-up doubled Senecal, but the 5'7, 150-lb midfielder evaded both defenders and scored the game-winner.
 
"We were just trying to kill the penalty and they've got their two best poles on me," Senecal said. "And I'm a short guy, got these two long poles, but I'm like alright, so I start running around and do my thing. He comes for an overhead check, and I just see green grass in front of me and I go, 'I got to take this to the net,' and instinct just took over from there."
 
Brockport out-shot the Hawks, 54-31 and won the turnover battle (22-14). Steinhart had another stellar performance in goal for SUNY New Paltz, especially in the second half. He finished with 19 stops.
 
"It's a cultural thing and we played poorly and had way too many turnovers, but it's as simple as that in the culture that we have," Neisler said. "The belief these guys had. They never wavered at any point even through [22] turnovers today. There's a lot of work to do, but they deserve it for sure."
 
Senecal ended a highlight game with a team-leading six points with four goals and two assists. Reese followed with three goals with Ryan Scully adding one goal and two assists.
 
"This memory will definitely be told to every kid, probably just repeat it to everyone — I'm going to be that guy you know, 'back in college I hit the game-winner to set the team in the playoffs.' I'm going to be that guy," Senecal added.
 
The Hawks postseason run starts Wednesday against the Knights. Geneseo defeated SUNY New Paltz during the regular season, 17-8.

The Hawks though, are used to being in adverse situations.
 
"First time the program is going to the playoffs — yeah I got the game-winning goal, but it's a team effort, Senecal said. "This was huge for us. This was a huge hump we had to get over. Last year we were just celebrating one win in the SUNYAC and now we're going to the playoffs. This is everything for us."

Post-Game Featuring Anthony Senecal

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