SUNY New Paltz Athletics

Cortland, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz 2026 season came to an end Wednesday afternoon in the SUNYAC Semifinal round after falling to No. 2 seed Cortland, 15-2.
 
The No. 3 seeded Hawks had trouble gaining enough possessions down the stretch to overcome a 7-1 halftime deficit with a tough third quarter that followed, which allowed the Red Dragons to go up by double-figures and roll the rest of the way.
 
Cortland out-shot SUNY New Paltz 28-18 including 20-9 in shots on goal, while picking up more ground balls (21-13) and winning on the draw circle (15-3). Both teams rode well, but the Red Dragons caused more havoc in the midfield as the Hawks went just 50 percent in the clear, going 8-for-16 while the Red Dragons went 10-for-16.
 
The hosts grabbed the opening draw and on their first shot they ricocheted their attempt off the pipe. The Hawks couldn't close the possession though, as Cortland picked up the loose ball and scored the opening goal two minutes into the game. The Red Dragons doubled their margin after taking advantage of a green card issued after SUNY New Paltz was caught offsides. Cortland worked the ball around and out of their wheel play from behind cage, found the soft spot in the Hawks' man-down zone to go up, 2-0.
 
SUNY New Paltz answered with nine minutes to go in the period. The play stemmed from a ground ball pickup from Samantha Gemmo cleaning up another pipe by the Red Dragons. She cleared the other way and allowed the Hawks to run a set, which led to a nice find from Allison Beattie to Ava Padilla coming around the opposite side of the crease, catching and finishing for the goal.
 
 
Cortland answered before the quarter's final whistle. Piper Mascaros (four saves) made two really nice stops on back-to-back plays, first on a free position and then on a dodge from X. But the Hawks couldn't clear, which allowed the Red Dragons another chance with 30 seconds left in the period. Mascaros, looking for an outlet outside her goal circle was checked as she let the ball go, resulting in a soft lofted pass directly in the stick of the Red Dragon's Ashley Melillo. Mellilo cashed in for the open net goal and pushed her team up, 3-1.  
Another green card put the Hawks back into their man-down zone and again, Cortland was patient in finding the weak spot in the zone and capitalized. They then added on two minutes later, as an overthrown pass by SUNY New Paltz on the offensive end allowed the Red Dragons to run in transition. Senior defender Sam Wohlmut did a good job slowing down the break and even got her stick on an attempt with the hosts still attacking goal, but Brooke Elizalde picked up the loose ball and scored in front of net to boost the advantage to 5-1.
 
Another failed clear on a turnover by Mascaros led to a quick goal for Cortland with four minutes left and after a draw win from Taylor Mullins, Emma Dempsey shot through traffic and scored to boost the advantage, 7-1 with three minutes left.
 
The game then got out of hand in the third quarter. The Hawks didn't move past midfield until two minutes left in the period with the Red Dragons dominating possession. They were also gifted nearly 10 minutes of penalty minutes from SUNY New Paltz cards and as a result dominated possession and piled on six goals in the period to gain running clock and take a 13-1 lead into the fourth where they held on the rest of the way.
 
Lexi Atwater added one last goal to break up a 13-0 run in the final seconds of the game. She added two ground balls and a draw control with four shots. Grace Vience led the team with three ground balls, while junior captain Amy Whitman was the defensive catalyst, as she posted a team-high three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Gabriella Tommaso and Izzy Miraglia finished the second half and combined for one save.
 
SUNY New Paltz ends the season at 12-6 overall and 7-2 in the SUNYAC, appearing in a program-most third-straight SUNYAC Semifinal appearance.
 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by New Paltz Hawks (@newpaltzhawks)

***************
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.