ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College field hockey team had its seven-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday evening, October 12 after being blanked by New Paltz, 3-0, at Higgins Stadium. With the loss, the Bombers fall to 10-3, while the Hawks improve to 10-2. It was the second meeting all-time between the two schools with the first one resulting in a 3-0 Ithaca victory in 2019.
 
Although the matchup did not have any conference implications, it featured two teams who are currently at the top of their own. IC struggled to convert on the offensive end and fouls seemed to derail the team at costly times, in which two New Paltz goals came off of penalty corners. Even though the defense endured some lackluster scoring plays, the Bombers still outshot the SUNYAC program 13-to-5 and totaled one more shot-on-goal in the contest.
 
One of the more impressive performances of the evening came courtesy of Victoria Sestito. Despite not tallying a goal, the senior led the team with three shots and two shots-on-goal.
 
Defensively, goalkeeper Macy Brandwein suffered her third loss of the season after surrendering two goals. Sophomore Alex Clough saw most of the action in the net, accumulating three saves and allowing one goal.
 
Ithaca got off to a shaky start in its home outing, as the Hawks managed to get on the scoreboard first in the sixth minute. Off of a corner, New Paltz forward Morgan Woolley received a nifty pass from Natasia Plunkett and ripped a shot that eluded Brandwein to put her team up 1-0.
 
In the final minute of the opening quarter, the Hawks doubled up the advantage. Plunkett continued to gash the Bomber's defensive back end by notching a goal of her own.
 
Ithaca nearly cut the deficit in half in the 17^th minute. Natalie Descalso recovered a pass, dodged a defender, but just missed the net after ripping a shot from the center of the scoring arc.
 
The Bombers still did not have an answer for Plunkett defensively, as the New Paltz star launched a laser into the back right corner of the net to give her team a comfortable 3-0 advantage right before the first half came to a close.
 
Even though it was a quiet second half, IC appeared to control the majority of play. The Bombers had six corner tries and three shots-on-goal but failed to capitalize on any of them. In the 44^th minute, junior Arla Davis zoomed past a pair of defenders and fired a shot into the cage, yet a foul call erased the scoring opportunity.
 
Ithaca College will turn its attention to a highly anticipated conference showdown at 17th ranked Vassar College on Friday, October 15. The Liberty League clash is slated to begin at 5 p.m.