New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz hosted perennial program SUNY Cortland Saturday on South Turf Field and played tough but a 5-0 run to start the second quarter created too large of a hole to climb and the Hawks fell, 18-10.
 
SUNY New Paltz dropped to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in the SUNYAC, while Cortland improved to 8-3 and 3-1, respectively.
 
The Red Dragons took a quick lead a minute into the game, but the Hawks settled in defensively and methodically worked the ball after earning a man-up opportunity on a holding call with John Reese capitalizing on the score. Matt Brignati won the ensuing faceoff for SUNY New Paltz on a violation by the Red Dragons with Ryan Scully getting a look on cage, but Cortland's Travis Wagner made the stop and got his team out in transition, resulting in another score with just less than eight minutes left in the period.
 
The Hawks tied the game at 2-2 after taking advantage on a Red Dragons turnover, as Ethan Scully found his brother, Ryan Scully to create another stalemate. However, Cortland opened up the game in the first 10 minutes of the second quarter, going on a 5-0 run to create a comfortable 7-2 cushion. Another man-up chance finally allowed SUNY New Paltz to break the run, as Reese again found the back of the cage after picking up a ground ball and placing his shot into the open net.
 
 
Ryan Steinhart made a nice stop with four minutes left, allowing the Hawks to get out on a quick transition the other way, resulting in a goal from Zach Schmidt to Thomas Armetta to cut the deficit to three. The Red Dragons quickly answered though, winning the ensuing faceoff and scoring on the slow-break down field.  
The Hawks won possession back on the faceoff and coach Dylan Neisler called a timeout to regroup his team, resulting in a quality set offense resulting in two shots on goal that went just wide of cage. A throw away by the Red Dragons gave SUNY New Paltz another chance on offense and this time it capitalized as Schdmidt got the ball over on a clear with James Flanagan working a one-v-one where he dodged and fed Armetta on the cut for the score, cutting the difference to 8-5.
 
Cortland re-upped its four-goal cushion in the final seconds, as Klay Stuver won his matchup one-v-one for the goal with just 15 seconds left to create a 9-5 cushion at the break.

The Red Dragons took the momentum into the second half and created their largest lead at 12-5. Reese, Colin Cleary and Anthony Senecal answered with consecutive goals to bring the score to 12-8 before the two teams exchanged goals, resulting in a 13-9 score entering the fourth. The Hawks couldn't generate enough offense to work themselves back and looked at a 17-9 deficit with 8:30 to go following a man-up goal by the Red Dragons. Ryan Scully scored his team's final goal with seconds left to finalize the 10-goal difference.
 
Reese and Armetta led their team offensively with three goals apiece, combining for six ground balls and just one turnover. Tim Russell and Aidan Gregory each had two caused turnovers defensively, while Steinhart finished with 25 saves, setting a new career- and program-high for the junior.
 
SUNY New Paltz returns to South Turf Field April 15 when it hosts Oswego State at.1 p.m.

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