New Paltz Sweeps Women's Lacrosse Athlete of the Week Honors
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - New Paltz's Lexi Atwater and Kaitlyn Shaw are this week's SUNYAC Women's Lacrosse Offensive and Defensive Athletes of the Week respectively.
In a three-game slate this past week, Lexi Atwater racked up a team-leading 18 points in a 3-0 week for the Hawks. She was the game-leader offensively in a 17-6 win over Utica Tuesday in the team's home opener, totaling seven goals and an assist for eight points, tying for second most in single-game program history. Her late goal with seconds remaining in the first half sparked SUNY New Paltz heading into the final 30 minutes of play. She again posted eight points in a 19-3 win over Manhattanville Saturday to lead all scorers, adding six goals and two assists on eight shots for an efficient .750 shooting percentage. She also tallied two goals in a 19-4 victory over Mount Saint Mary's College in limited action. Overall, she finished the week with 15 goals, three assists, five ground balls, four draw controls and two caused turnovers on 31 shots, 23 of which on target for a 74.2 percent shooting margin.
Shaw led her team to three wins on the week. She helped ignite the Hawks in a 17-6 win over Utica Tuesday in their home opener. With SUNY New Paltz up just one at 7-6, Shaw made a stout defensively play, reading Utica's attacker, batting down her attempted pass, picking up the ground ball and starting transition the other way. She zipped a pass over to Ava Padilla who found Lexi Atwater for the quick fastbreak goal to push the Hawks up by two with a few seconds left, which sparked momentum heading into the break. Shaw's play was pivotal, as the team rolled the rest of the way with Shaw finishing with three caused turnovers, three ground balls and a team-leading six draw controls to go along with five points. She was the team leader defensively in a 19-4 win over Mount Saint Mary's College, tallying a game-high four caused turnovers, to go along with two ground balls, three draw controls and a team-leading six points. In a 19-3 win over Manhattanville, Shaw added three draws and two ground balls, to go along with six goals which helped her surpass the 200-career goals threshold, becoming the only player in program history to reach the mark.
