Newburgh, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz earned its first win of the season Wednesday night with a strong second half effort to come away with an 11-3 victory over Mount Saint Mary on the road.
 
SUNY New Paltz (1-3 overall) took a slight, 3-2 lead at halftime with the offense producing just 16 shots while committing 13 turnovers. After a long talk at the break, the Hawks picked up their play in the second half and responded with a dominating final 30 minutes of action, registering 27 shots, while limiting their turnovers to just eight with six unanswered goals in the third quarter and ultimately out-scoring the Knights, 8-1 in the half.
 
"It's never easy to beat anybody, and we talked about earning the right to be in those games," said Hawks coach Dylan Neisler. "For them, to go into halftime and to take what was coming to them and respond to that was huge. It's something to continue to build upon. We have enough in our locker room we just have to push the right buttons to get there."
 
The Hawks trailed 1-0 to start the game, but Aiden Jones and Ryan Scully scored back-to-back goals 30 seconds apart to give SUNY New Paltz its first lead of the day and the Hawks never trailed for that point forward. The Knights cut into the lead early in the second quarter with SUNY New Paltz going scoreless in the period. The Hawks responded following a poor second quarter, as John Reese capitalized with a goal on the team's first offensive possession a minute into the third period. Colin Cleary then added another three minutes later, scoring off a feed from Ethan Scully.
 
Following a Mount Saint Mary timeout, Cleary assisted Reese to push the lead to 6-2 with Cleary then scoring his second two minutes later off an assist from James Flanagan. Anthony Senecal and Flanagan rounded out the scoring in the quarter to extend the lead to seven entering the fourth. Ryan Scully and Flanagan then capped the offensive night early in the fourth to solidify the nine-goal win.
 
Flanagan led the offense with four points off two goals and two assists with a ground ball. Ethan Scully finished with three assists, while John Reese had three goals with two ground balls. Ryan Steinhart earned the win between the pipes as he finished with 10 saves.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back on the road Saturday, facing Mount Saint Vincent at 3 p.m.


***************
To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.