Box Score New Paltz, New York – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's soccer team came out flat against visiting Plattsburgh State Saturday.

The Hawks were on their heels for most of the first half and conceded their first goal just 72 seconds into the match. The game was within a score for most of the contest, but the Cardinals (9-4 overall, 3-2 SUNYAC) put away another late in the second half to pull away with the 2-0 victory.

"This is a field just like ours. This is a town just like ours, but for some reason winning on the road is so hard," said Plattsburgh State coach Chris Waterbury. "And so, any road win is a great win. It doesn't matter the shots, the opponent, it's just a win on a road is a great win."

SUNY New Paltz (4-8 overall, 1-5 SUNYAC), which was coming off its first conference victory Friday against SUNY Potsdam, honored its seniors prior to the game, as well as honored the memory of former Hawks men's soccer alumnus Heinz Ahlmeyer in its annual Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr. Game, which supports veteran students at SUNY New Paltz.

With the magnitude of the game heightened, Hawks coach Kyle Clancy was disappointed with the way his team came out on a special occasion.

"I talked about Heinz a little bit to the guys, so they understood," Clancy said. "He's just someone that I want them to appreciate and honor the right way and that is the disappointing part. We talked about not just him, but [alumni] Joe [Hughes] and Angelo [Dematteo], giving their service to the country and we came out flat. It was just not a good example of how we want our guys to perform, especially like a day like today. It was pretty frustrating."

Off the opening whistle, the Cardinals kicked a long ball toward the Hawks' end and managed to earn a throw near the corner flag. Jah-heem Lawitz tossed the ball inside the six-hard box, which Joe Gula flicked on. Nicholas Laurent then came crashing in back post to put away the goal.

Plattsburgh State kept the pressure on throughout the first half, as the game was played in the Hawks' defensive third for the majority of the first 45 minutes.

The Cardinals kept earning throws deep inside their final third and totaled 12 set pieces inside their offensive half, including six corners and five free kicks inside of 30 yards.

"We were dangerous at times, but all of the set plays there were always one or two guys that weren't in the places they were going to be," Waterbury said. "So the services were good, but I hoped we could have taken advantage of them a little bit more. They seemed dangerous, but to me as the game wore on we were making some positional mistakes."

SUNY New Paltz upped its play in the second half and matched the Cardinals chances, 8-4.

The Hawks earned four corners within the first 20 minutes of the second half, but couldn't put away the equalizer.

Sebastian Gordon-Somers-Archer nearly knotted it up in the 61^st minute, but his header knocked off the cross bar and out of play. Aleco Podias had a dangerous opportunity on a counter attack in the 56^th minute, but Plattsburgh State goalkeeper Kiernan Kirby (three saves) came out and made the stop.

In the 76^th minute Laurent put away an insurance goal for the Cardinals, getting on the end of a slow ball played through the six by teammate Chris Robertson.

"I thought the back line performed OK, but the team in general we didn't execute the game plan," Clancy said. "You could see a major difference between the first half and second half and how we defended. What we talked about inside didn't carry out onto the field, and that was extremely frustrating."

Ultimately, SUNY New Paltz held the advantage in shots (14-13), but Plattsburgh State had more chances on frame (7-3).

John Guzzo, who got the start in net for the Hawks, came out and played strong on various set pieces throughout the afternoon, punching away numerous dangerous balls played in. He finished with five saves on the day.

SUNY New Paltz will look to bounce-back next weekend, as it hits the road to take on SUNY Oneonta Saturday at 1 p.m.

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