ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's lacrosse team will continue the non-conference portion of its schedule with a road trip to New Paltz, New York, to face the Hawks of SUNY New Paltz on Thursday, March 23. The game, which was moved to the North Turf Field on the campus of SUNY New Paltz due to the uncertain weather in the Southern Tier, is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Soaring Eagles were handed a 17-7 loss by the Bengals of Buffalo State in a non-conference contest on March 18 in Buffalo, New York. Despite the lopsided final score, Elmira twice came within two goals of the lead. Back-to-back goals from freshmen Rachael Goetz '20 and Kiana Melvin '20 midway through the first half reduced the deficit to 5-3. After the Bengals built a 9-4 lead at halftime, EC netted three unanswered goals to start the second half, with one each from Sarah Hughson '18, Kyra McDonald '18, and Hayley Baker '19. Buffalo State finally halted the Elmira rally with two goals in less than a minute, as part of an 8-0 run to end the game. Baker paced Elmira offensively with two goals and two assists for four points. Hughson and Kelsey Quail '17 also had multi-point outings with one goal and one assist each. Kelcey Crawford '18 had a strong season debut on defense, as she forced a game-high three turnovers and finished in a tie for first in ground balls with five.
 
FREE POSITION SUCCESS
While the Elmira offense has been outscored in each of the first two games of the season, the Soaring Eagles have continued an upward trend of success on free position opportunities. Between 2015 and 2016, EC more than doubled the number of free position goals it scored, going from a mere 19 to 40, the most in a single season in over 14 years. Heading into Thursday's bout with SUNY New Paltz, the Purple and Gold have netted six free position goals on 11 tries, while the opposition has been limited to just one such goal on five attempts. Six different players have tallied a free position goal for the Soaring Eagles, and goalie Lindsay Wargo '17 has made four saves on the five shots taken by the opposition.

SUNY NEW PALTZ AT A GLANCE
Coming off of a 2016 season in which the Hawks went 3-13, New Paltz has split its first two decisions in 2017. The Hawks won their opener on March 8 against Manhattanville College, 11-7, but were defeated by Hartwick College, 11-10, on March 20. New Paltz looked to be in control of their most recent contest after leading by one at halftime and by as many as five goals in the second half; however, Hartwick struck for the final six goals of the game to complete the comeback. The Hawks, who had no seniors on last year's roster, return essentially their entire team, including all of their top scorers. In 2016, Nicole Gottschalk paced the squad with 23 goals and 29 points, followed by Caitlyn Morris with 16 goals and a team-high 11 assists for 27 points. Through the first two games of the 2017 campaign, Morris boasts a team-leading seven points, and is tied with Alexa Criollo for the team high with five goals. One of the new faces for the Hawks this season is sophomore goalie Kendra Dansereau, a transfer from Goucher College. She's started both games and owns a 9.00 goals-against average with a .379 save percentage.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The history between the feathered foes from Elmira and New Paltz is brief, as the two teams have only met twice. The Soaring Eagles won both of those meetings and have outscored the Hawks by a wide 33-12 margin. EC won the first game, 10-5, on April 27, 2000, during Elmira's inaugural varsity women's lacrosse season. The Soaring Eagles then walloped New Paltz by a 23-7 final score on April 26, 2001.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Elmira returns to action on Saturday, March 25, when the Soaring Eagles host the Wildcats of Cazenovia College for a 1:00 p.m. non-conference tilt.