Patchogue, NY — Heading down to Long Island among a heavy Hawks crowd, the State University of New York at New Paltz settled in and then took over against hosting St. Joseph's-Long Island Saturday afternoon.
 
After the Golden Eagles (0-2 overall) took the initial lead, the Hawks started rolling following a save and quick transition out leading to a fast-break goal that ignited the offensive onslaught to the eventual 22-5 win.
 
SUNY New Paltz improved to 5-0 with the victory, its best start since the 2011 season when the Hawks also opened up 5-0.
 
More importantly, it was a total team effort with SUNY New Paltz registering 16 assists on 22 of their goals, and without two starters on the defensive side, Morgan Woolley and Sam Wohlmut stepped up seamlessly into the starting lineup, while Mia Baldinger moved over into a new role, playing as they key cog to the Hawks backer defense.
 
"From our off-ball movement, our feeds, keeping our heads up, the timing of our cuts and feeds, our shooting has gotten better — we're just really starting to click and offensively is where I've really seen the most growth," said Hawks coach Randy Vite. "Overall, this team has been nothing but a pleasure to coach. They come to practice every day with a smile on their face and they're ready to work hard."
 
St. Joseph's-LI got out to a 1-0 lead 40 seconds into the game after drawing a free position opportunity after winning the opening draw. SUNY New Paltz had a long offensive set in their first possession on its end of the restraining line but couldn't capitalize as Golden Eagles goalie Maggie Harding made four saves off four shots in the stretch.
 
However, SUNY New Paltz started rolling after Amy Whitman got out in transition following a nice save by Gabriella Tommaso on a free position attempt with about 10:30 to play. Tommaso hit Whitman on the break and the freshman pushed to fellow classmate Ava Padilla who knotted up the score at 1-1. The chain of events got the Hawks on the front-foot, as they scored six unanswered.  
SUNY New Paltz scored four of its six first quarter goals in a 1:30 stretch in the period with Lexi Atwater finding twin sister Morgan for the Hawks second, before Morgan scored another 27 seconds later. Kaitlyn Shaw added on 20 seconds after winning the ensuing draw, capitalizing on a free position opportunity. Wohlmut helped the Hawks to their next goal, picking up a ground ball in the middle of the field off a miss-clear by the hosts, before finding Kira Tucker who fed Lexi Atwater to push the score to 5-1 leading to a St. Joseph's-Long Island timeout with about seven minutes left.  
 
SUNY New Paltz came through to eat a two-man down penalty. Playing solid 7-v-5 defense to force a tough shot, Tommaso was there to make the easy save. She got the ball out to Woolley who ran the length of the field, avoiding three defenders to get the ball over the restraining line. The Hawks held onto the ball until they got to full strength and then immediately capitalized as Allison Beattie found Shaw for the goal to push the lead to 6-1.
The Golden Eagles got one back with two seconds left in the period, but SUNY New Paltz didn't let the score stall its momentum and continued piling on in the second quarter.
 
Baldinger assisted on the Hawks' first three goals of the period. She first found Morgan Atwater, then a cutting Shaw before dishing to Lexi Atwater inside leading to another St. Joseph's-LI timeout with 12 minutes to go in the period and SUNY New Paltz leading 9-2.
 
The Hawks went a man-down with about four minutes to go after Woolley was hit with a yellow following a swing near the head of a Golden Eagles attacker, which earned the center hash on the play. Tommaso came up big once again, however, making the save and then getting her team out in transition which led to a Shaw free position on the other end on a shooting space call. Shaw capitalized with a man-down goal to push the score to 10-2.
 
Shaw added on two minutes later, driving through two defenders and bouncing her shot past Harding to find the inside of the top pipe for her fourth of the day. Baldinger then officially gave her team a running clock after extending the lead to 10 as she scored on a free position goal in the final seconds of the half.  
SUNY New Paltz kept the pedal down in the second half as it pushed its lead to 18-3 entering the fourth with Ava Cronin and Baldinger scoring in the last two minutes of the period. Cronin scored again to start the fourth with Shaw, Baldinger and Lexi Atwater capping the game with three unanswered to finalize the 17-point win.
 
Ten different Hawks registered at least a point in the victory with Baldinger and Shaw leading the way with eight apiece, tied for third most in program history. Shaw finished tied for a team-leading five goals with three assists on 13 shots, 10 of which were on goal, with six draw controls. Morgan Atwater also had five goals, while adding a ground ball and a team-most eight draw controls. Lexi Atwater added four goals and one assist on six shots with a ground ball, a caused turnover and six draw controls.
 
However, the player of the game was Baldinger who finished with a team-high eight points (three goals, five assists) with a team and career-high six ground balls and eight caused turnovers with the latter nearly matching a new single season program record Woolley had set just three days prior against Kean University, which now puts Baldinger's eight second-most all-time.
 
"I switched up her position a little bit to fit our needs defensively," Vite said. "I genuinely think she is one of the most naturally athletic kids that I've ever coached. I can use her in a variety of different ways, and she just exceeded my expectations today."
 
Tommaso earned the win after totaling three saves with Mollie Harris and Piper Mascaros splitting the last half and combining for one stop.
 
SUNY New Paltz returns to North Turf Field for its next outing, hosting SUNY Maritime next Saturday at 1 p.m.


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