Hawks In Key SUNYAC Matchup

NEW PALTZ — The SUNY New Paltz women’s soccer team, which is enjoying its best season in school history, is also in a position to qualify for the SUNYAC Tournament for only the second time in the program’s 14-year history.

Depending upon the outcome of today’s SUNYAC matchup between Brockport and Geneseo, the Hawks will either clinch a playoff spot or need to avoid losing tomorrow’s 3 p.m. SUNYAC finale against regular-season champion Oneonta at New Paltz’s Alumni Field to earn the fourth seed in next week’s SUNYAC Tournament.

If Geneseo wins, New Paltz will be guaranteed the fourth seed by virtue of the Hawks’ 4-3 advantage on penalty kicks following their scoreless tie with Geneseo on September 24. If Brockport wins this afternoon at Geneseo, New Paltz would need to either beat or tie Oneonta tomorrow in order to make the playoffs. The Hawks lost 3-0 to Brockport on September 25.

With at least two games remaining, the (11-6-1) Hawks have two more wins than any other women’s soccer team ever at the institution. New Paltz’s previous best win total was nine, achieved in consecutive years in the late 1980s. The Hawks were 9-2-2, including a 2-1 loss to Geneseo in the SUNYAC Semifinals in 1988, and finished 9-2-0 in 1987.

New Paltz has also compiled its best SUNYAC record ever, with this year’s six wins doubling the three wins the Hawks had in 1989, when they were 3-2-0 in conference play.