New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's lacrosse team overcame an early 5-1 deficit against visiting Bard College Saturday and rallied to re-gain the lead with just three minutes left in the game, putting it self in position to claim its second win of the season.
 
The Raptors answered when the Hawks finally gained back momentum and forced overtime where they went in with a man-up advantage, helping to score the sudden death game-winner, which handed SUNY New Paltz a 12-11 loss.
 
Despite the defeat, the Hawks were pleased with the way they performed especially coming off a rough 16-3 road loss Wednesday against Farmingdale. Thomas Armetta was the catalyst for SUNY New Paltz's offense after leading the team with five goals on 17 shots, while Nate Lindsey, getting his first start of his career, had a standout performance to lead the team defensively, finishing with 18 saves.
 
"Since the game against Farmingdale we put a lot of pressure on our guys to actually think the game and play with some heart, and I think we got that out of them," said Hawks coach Dwayne Stewart. "It started in the cage with Nate and it stream lined to our attack. Nate did a really good job of facilitating the ball, so putting that pressure on them at practice definitely helped us out in the game. Hopefully, we can continue getting that effort moving forward."
 
 
Armetta opened up the game with an impressive finish, as Justin Pollak rounded the crease and found Armetta on a back cut toward the goal. Armetta lost his footing, but still managed to bring in the pass and quick-stick a shot into the back of the net as he was falling to give SUNY New Paltz a 1-0 lead.
 
Bard tied the score at ones to end the first quarter and rattled off four straight to open up the second. Armetta put an end to the scoreless drought for the Hawks. He scored his second of the day with about 3:30 left in the second after a fortuitous rebound off a deflection on a shot fell in front of him. He picked up the ground ball and fired his shot inside the far pipe for the score. He tacked on another about 45 seconds later and then Ryan Scully helped cap off the run, scoring out of a timeout with about 34 seconds left. However, the Raptors had the final say of the half, netting one last goal at the halftime buzzer to go into the break with a 6-4 lead.
 
SUNY New Paltz continued to work its way back in the third quarter with Scully tying up the score at eight off an assist from Aidan Gregory heading into the final 15 minutes of regulation.

The Hawks knotted the game at nine and 10-all in the fourth quarter until finally re-taking the lead with about 13 minutes left. Lindsey made a great save on a low shot by Bard's Peter Sojka, which led to a Raptor penalty on the ensuing attempted clear with 3:34 to play. Not long after Mason Pontrelli found Armetta open in front of net, who gave a little head fake to move goalie for score on the man-up advantage. SUNY New Paltz's lead didn't last long though, as Bard won the ensuing faceoff, got the ball down field to Corey Rich, who bullied his way to his left side to fire a shot into the inside of the pipe to tie the game at 11.
Joseph Bradbury picked up possession on the next faceoff for the Hawks to give his team a chance to re-take the advantage. SUNY New Paltz  turned the ball over on the offensive end, but won the ball back with Armetta and Pollak putting heavy pressure on Bard's goalie to force a turnover. Aiden Jones got a good look on goal with less than 40 seconds remaining, but his shot went just wide. The Hawks again won the ball back off a failed clear by the Raptors and Pollak had a great opportunity to put away the go-ahead goal, but his shot was an easy save for the Raptors' Lyle Healy.
 
The game got frantic in the final seconds with both teams scrambling to gain possession and score the game winner. Scully was called on a major penalty after crosschecking Healy in the final seconds. The penalty carried over and Bard held the opening possession of extra time with a man-up opportunity.
 
Just 30 seconds into overtime, the Raptors found the back of the net, as Rich fired a shot toward goal that was slightly deflected past Lindsey to finalize the 12-11 outcome.
 
"From a game plan stand point I think we did a really good job of sticking with what we wanted to do," Stewart said. "From a discipline standpoint when it came to fouling and penalties we didn't do a great job with that and that is what shot us in the foot, so those are things we have to correct. And that is what we will be looking to do moving forward."
 
Scully followed Armetta offensively with three goals and an assist on eight shots with two ground balls, but unfortunately had a tough penalty in the waning seconds of regulation that put his team at a disadvantage.
 
"Just keep your head up and keep fighting the fight," said Stewart of advice he'd give his young attackmen. "It's a learning process. He doesn't have upperclassmen to learn from, so he has to figure it out on his own. Just keep your head up, keep on working and look forward to the next one."

The Hawks are back in action Wednesday when they go back on the road to take on Purchase College at 7 p.m.

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