After more than a year since taking the field for its inaugural season, the State University of New York at New Paltz opened up year two Friday at home against Utica College. Despite entering the game shorthanded, missing a few key starters, the Hawks battled back-and-forth with the Pioneers (2-0 overall) who opened up their 2021 season against Castelton on Wednesday. Although SUNY New Paltz tied the score five times throughout the game, it couldn't gain and maintain the lead down the stretch due to a few costly turnovers and penalties in the final minutes of the fourth quarter and ultiamtely fell, 9-6. "Being short-handed definitely hurt us. I think the entire game we played smart, played an intelligent game and as we got tired we started to have mental breakdowns," said Hawks coach Dwayne Stewart. "I think that's what happened there, just us being tired and Utica doing a good job of getting their riders in and I think that held us back a little bit." Early turnovers allowed Utica to dominate possession early in the first quarter, but SUNY New Paltz stood strong defensively backed by a solid outing from sophomore Nate Lindsay (16 saves). The Pioneers capitalized off a turnover and got on the board first with a goal by Dale Wagner with about four minutes left in the quarter. The Hawks quickly responded, however, as junior Dylan Fraser scored his first career goal with the blue and orange after finishing off a feed from Aidan Gregory. Utica went up by two early in the second after putting away an opportunity to end the first 15 minutes and again to start the second, but freshmen Ryan Kaelin and John Reese each tallied back-to-back unassisted goals and willed their team back in and tied the score, 3-3.