New Paltz, NY -- The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz women's lacrosse team fell to Utica College Saturday, 14-7 in its season opener on the North Turf Field. 
 
Stepping onto the field the Hawks were excited to start their 2020 season and after putting in the work for several months, they were ready to put their training to the test. 
 
From the start of the game, SUNY New Paltz came out strong, got possession of the ball early and kept it on the Pioneers' side of the turf. Unfortunately, the Hawks were unable to capitalize on the opportunities they created and with one miss of a step, Utica took control of the ball and brought it to the back of the cage just over five minutes into the first half. Within the next five minutes, the Pioneers scored twice more, giving themselves a three goal lead early on. 
 
It wasn't long after Utica's third goal that junior attacker Amy Hofer responded with a goal for SUNY New Paltz, putting the Hawks on the board. Hofer's energy radiated throughout the team after that moment. SUNY New Paltz quickly took control of the ball and remained on the Pioneers' side of the field for several minutes. Junior midfielder Tara Bovich took advantage of this shift, and was able to get another point for the Hawks, closing the gap to 3-2 between Utica and SUNY New Paltz. 
 
Despite the continuous play-for-plays that occurred between the Pioneers and the Hawks throughout the rest of the first half, Utica found the back of the net an additional three times, which in turn gave the team a 6-3 lead over SUNY New Paltz at the end of the first half. 
 
 
At half time, the Hawks assessed their play and reviewed what areas they wanted to improve on going into the third and fourth quarters. As Coach Keith Detelj explains, "We didn't want to change too much because we were still making plays. We just wanted to be in a little bit better spots so we had the extra time to finish the play, or had the extra time to make a good decision." 
 
This game plan proved strong for SUNY New Paltz moving forward as the Hawks found the back of the net an additional four times before the end of the game. On the defensive side, SUNY New Paltz proved a force. Junior goalie Haley Timarky denied 10 shots by Utica and her defense caused a combined 29 total caused turnovers. 
 
Though the result of the game was not what the Hawks were hoping for, their season is still very young and a long road of hard work and improvement are up ahead. 
 
"I think we had a couple young players out there today that really showed off so that's good to see. I think defensively we were very solid." Detelj said. "And then now, it's just about you know putting the ball in the back of the net in these times where it can gain us some momentum. So, it's just somewhere we're getting the kinks out of, but this isn't something that's going to be our personality, that we're not going to put the ball in the net. … It's definitely today where we struggled a little bit in that sense."
 
SUNY New Paltz will appear on the North Turf for their next match-up March 4 against St.Joseph's-Long Island. 

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