New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz ended the regular season Wednesday on North Turf Field with a 19-8 rout of SUNY Oneonta, which clinched the No. 3 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament.

The two teams went into the matchup both having clinched a playoff berth with a victory on either side deciding which would cement a higher berth heading into the tournament. The Hawks held the edge from the jump, as an 8-0 run following the game's first goal from the Red Dragons laid the foundation of what ended as a lopsided victory for SUNY New Paltz.
 
"To accomplish this goal, it was really nice," said Hawks sophomore attacker Ava Padilla. "We all worked as a team, we were disciplined… and I feel like it was a really good team win. Everyone got assists and goals, so I feel like it was a really good team win and I'm happy."
 
Padilla was the catalyst in the first-quarter run, as she picked apart the Red Dragons' zone defense with all of her team-leading five assists coming in the opening 15 minutes.
 
After Oneonta scored the game's first goal, stemming off a turnover from the initial faceoff win, the Hawks quickly bounced back with a defensive stop. Morgan Woolley hunted down the stick of Oneonta's Lindsey Townes for the back check with Kaitlyn Shaw picking up the ground ball and pushing the other way, leading to a fast-break goal from Lexi Atwater to tie the game. SUNY New Paltz then settled into its offensive set on the next six offensive possessions and the Hawks' attackers shredded the Red Dragons' zone with passes thru the middle to open cutters. Padilla was the beneficiary, facilitating four straight goals to push the lead to 5-1 with eight minutes to go in the period.
 
 
Mia Baldinger picked off a pass as the shot clock expired on Oneonta's ensuing offensive possession following Atwater's goal, which led to a Kaitlyn Shaw goal on the skip pass from Padilla to give SUNY New Paltz its first lead of the game. Another good defensive stand resulted in another score the other way, as Sam Wohlmut forced the turnover on a good slide into the 8 with Aiylin Rutnik picking up the ground ball to start transition. The possession allowed Padilla to find a cutting Kira Tucker for the score to create a 4-1 cushion, forcing the Red Dragons into a timeout.  
Shannon Lewis got in on the action out of the short break, rounding the crease, drawing a a slide and dumping a nifty pass to a cutting Atwater who caught and shot for the score to add onto the stretch. Lewis then became the benefactor as she snuck up from X on a cut, catching and finishing on a pass from Shaw to up the lead. Atwater then capped the surge following a draw win by Morgan Atwater, as Padilla fed another assist in for Atwater's fourth of the quarter. Oneonta finally answered with less than two minutes left in the period to cut the score to 8-2 entering the second.
 
"The game plan was to put three at X and spread out their defenders to make them choose between one of the other girls and that left a lot of people open for me to feed and for them to get the goal," Padilla said.
 
Shaw opened up the second quarter with a picked pass on the defensive end, leading to a beautiful transition goal by Lewis, as Shaw found Lexi Atwater down field who zipped a pass to Lewis who finished on the play to boost the lead to seven. The Red Dragons started gaining momentum, as they continued to find success in transition scoring three-straight all off the break.
 
Lexi Atwater finally answered for SUNY New Paltz, helped by Allision Beattie who subbed in and made a play seconds into stepping foot onto the field with a nice pass to Atwater cutting inside for the goal to boost the score to 10-5 with about seven minutes to go in the half. Shaw and Padilla then added two more before the halftime buzzer sounded, stretching the score to 12-5 at the break.
 
SUNY New Paltz rolled into the third quarter strong, scoring six unanswered to force a running clock as it extended its advantage to 18-5 entering the fourth. Samantha DeLucca finished one more in the fourth as the Hawks finalized a 19-8 win.
 
"I feel like today was a really good game for us," Padilla said. "I feel like everything we worked on came together today and we were very disciplined, and I think going into it, if we continue to play like this we'll definitely win the SUNYAC Championship."
 
SUNY New Paltz kept Oneonta without a shot in the third quarter and ultimately held a 34-18 advantage in the category on the day after dominating on the draw circle, 22-9.
 
Lexi Atwater was the team's leading point-getter, finishing with seven on six goals and an assist, while adding two ground balls, a caused turnover and six draw controls. Shaw added three goals and three assists, with three ground balls, two caused turnovers and six draws. Padilla also had six points, totaling a goal and five assists. Woolley finished with a team-leading four caused turnovers, while adding two ground balls, followed by a career-high three caused turnovers from Helena Willis who earned her first start of her career. Morgan Atwater, meanwhile, tallied a game-high seven draws while adding three goals, two ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
SUNY New Paltz ends the regular season at 12-4 overall and 7-2 in SUNYAC play — tying its best regular season conference finish in program history, which comes off the heels of its first home playoff berth last season as the No. 3 seed.
 
The Hawks quarterfinal matchup is set for Saturday on North Turf Field with a start time to be determined but tentatively set at 1 p.m. against No. 6 SUNY Fredonia. The winner will go on the road to face No. 2 SUNY Cortland Wednesday, April 30 in the semifinal round with the championship set at the highest remaining seed on Saturday, May 3.
 
"I do not believe we're satisfied," Padilla added. "I feel like we want to keep going all the way until we win our SUNYAC Championship for the first time in history. We're not done yet and we still have a long way to go and I'm excited to keep playing."



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