Scranton, PA — The State University of New York New Paltz suffered a 9-4 loss on the road to Marywood Saturday.
 
The Hawks dropped to 1-4 overall after winning their first game Wednesday, also on the road, against Mount Saint Mary's College.
 
SUNY New Paltz struggled in the clear Saturday against the hosting Pacers, coupled with a poor shooting performance ultimately proved the difference in the game. Marywood took advantage on extra opportunities off miscues with the hosts out-shooting the Hawks, 40-32.
 
The game was halted at zeros before Finn Smith caught a feed from Ethan Scully down the ally and ripped a bullet to put SUNY New Paltz on the board for the initial 1-0 lead while registering his first career goal.
 
The Hawks struggled finding offensive possessions in the second quarter as they couldn't get the ball over the midline following numerous stops by goalie Zach Novak and their defense. The freshman goalie had his most impressive performance to date, keeping his team in early as he made a career-high 15 saves, seven of which came in the second quarter alone.
 
SUNY New Paltz failed six clears in the period, including three straight, but it was an offside penalty that led to the Pacers first goal of the game with four minutes remaining in the half.
 
The Hawks finally earned a possession after nearly 10 minutes of action, as Killian Yombor and Anthony Senecal worked hard to win the ball back following another miscue in the middle of the field that led to a loose ball the other way. SUNY New Paltz coach Dylan Neisler called a timeout once his team gained possession with about 2:30 left, drawing up a play. Scully earned a look on cage, rounding the crease with the shot clock dwindling as Marywood played tight defense, but his shot went wide of the mark. SUNY New Paltz made another defensive stop, sealed with a save by Novak, by the Hawks inadvertently stepped out of bounds forcing a turnover. Marywood took advantage, scoring with 40 seconds left to take the 2-1 lead into halftime.
   
Colin Cleary tied the game at twos for the Hawks to start the third quarter. Senecal again kept the play alive as he forced a turnover after Aiden Duran took a big hit that jarred the ball loose. Cleary was the beneficiary as picked up the ground ball in front of the net and put away his fifth of the year off the broken play with more than 14 minutes left in the quarter.
 
However, turnovers continued to plague the visitors, and the result was a 4-0 run for Marywood, which started controlling the game as it piled on three unanswered to end the third period. Drew Hulede ran the ball down the field following a defensive stop and the freshman long pole crossed the 50 but got checked before he could find a teammate to settle his team offensively. The Pacers pushed the tempo off the turnover and immediately scored to go up, 3-2. Marywood rattled off two more in a three minute-span to go up, 5-2 entering the fourth.  
 
SUNY New Paltz had a couple good looks on cage, tallying four shots in the opening five minutes of the final period. Senecal and Yombor each fired on Pacers goalie Colin Trainer but couldn't convert. Trainer made the second stop and cleared the ball out for Marywood, which pushed and netted its fourth-straight to go up by four with nine minutes left.
 
The Hawks started battling their way back as they owned possession down the stretch. A man-up opportunity gave them life, as Yombor found the top corner for the score off an extra pass by Smith.
 
Ryan O'Hara won the ensuing faceoff to himself to give his team a chance for another quick score. SUNY New Paltz attempted two on cage that went wide and saved by Trainer, but the Hawks earned another opportunity with Smith forcing a turnover on the ride, leading to a Blake Lyons goal to cut the score, 6-4 with just less than six minutes left.
 
O'Hara again won possession for his team, but Marywood forced a turnover on the defensive end, clearing and then quickly scoring on the other end to fatten the cushion back to three. Momentum shifted from there and the Pacers netted two more in the span of two minutes to put the game out of the reach to end the hopes of a Hawks comeback.
 
Marywood held the advantage on faceoffs (10-7), ground balls (37-35) and clears, good on 16-for-21 while the Hawks were only 12-for-25 in the category. They had the slight edge in turnovers, however, 22-23.
 
Smith led the team offensively with two points on three shots, while adding three rebound balls. Quinn Tucker had a team-high two caused turnovers while adding four ground balls. O'Hara went 7-for-17 from the faceoff X and had a team-high five ground balls.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Wednesday, going on the road to face SUNY Delhi for a 6 p.m. night cap.

 
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