NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's soccer team had an uneasy start to the 2010 campaign, but rode a six-game winning streak midseason to qualify for the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Women's Soccer Championship Tournament. Head coach Colleen Bruley, in her 15th year leading the team, has 10 of her 11 starters returning to provide the backbone to a strong defense and an emerging offense.

The aforementioned six-game winning streak in the middle of the season led the team to finish 7-8-4 overall, but more importantly, the Hawks went 4-4-1 in the SUNYAC, grabbing the sixth and final qualifying spot into the SUNYAC Championship Tournament. Bruley's team took third-seeded Buffalo State to the limit, holding the Bengals to a 1-1 stalemate through regulation and two overtime periods before bowing out of the tournament on penalty kicks.

Junior Stephanie Vega (Oceanside, N.Y./Baldwin Senior) returns as the starting goalkeeper. In both of her previous seasons, Vega has registered more than 1,000 minutes in goal and collected six shutouts.

“Vega has stepped up tremendously,” Bruley said. “She has more confidence in herself. She's a machine. She's worked really hard this summer fitness-wise, and I know our new goalkeeping coach is going to push her and challenge her to get better and better every day. We're so much more confident in her, and we were pretty confident in her to begin with.”

The team also brings back its Third-Team All-SUNYAC representative and leading scorer, junior Shelby Kondelka (Bloomingburg, N.Y./Pine Bush). Her nine goals on 28 shots for a .321 shot percentage easily led the 2010 team amongst those with five shot attempts or more.

“Shelby is the type of player where we want the ball at her feet,” Bruley said. “We want her to distribute. We want someone else to run out and finish, and that didn't happen last season. Shelby should be leading the team in assists, not goals. So we're looking for someone to finish and work off of Shelby. We have a lot of options.”

Amongst those options on the attacking side are juniors Samantha Abravanel (Islip, N.Y./Islip), who was the Hawks' leading scorer in 2009, and Ruby Sabillon (Wallkill, N.Y./Wallkill). Sophomore Alyssa Woodworth (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) drew praise from Bruley as a viable option for scoring in aggressive sets.

“With Woodworth now being a sophomore,” Bruley said, “she's come on really well. We have plenty of options and players comfortable with helping [Kondelka] come back to that distributor role.”

In addition, Bruley said that freshman Sarah Painter (Blue Point, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) could be a potential player to fill that role.

In the midfield, seniors Sherri Lajoie (River Edge, N.J./River Dell) and Alexa Balestrieri (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) along with juniors Beth Bowling (Islip, N.Y./Islip), Emily Rokitowski (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), Stephanie Martinez (Deer Park, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) and Sarah DeMarzo (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) return from the 2010 season with experience. They all look to continue in their starting roles while helping out their younger teammates.

Adding to the team depth at midfield are juniors Gabby Martino (Islip, N.Y./Islip) and Kate Carrino (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin Senior) and freshmen Bryce Kristall (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills West), Eleni Anselmi (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) and Rebecca Rothman (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside).

The strength of the program has often been considered its defense, and its leader returns in senior captain Shannon Cobb (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Arlington). With the team looking to open up its offense more than ever before, her defensive leadership is paramount to keeping the Hawks on top. Juniors Katie Oliver (Bellport, N.Y./Bellport) and Patti Bowling (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) also return with more experience and cohesiveness from playing together for two years.

Supporting the back line and looking at earning plenty of playing time are freshmen Christine Lacaria (Watertown, Conn./Holy Cross), Shaun O'Hanlon (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester), and Katie Knapp (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point). Freshman Kristen Tillyer (Kenvil, N.J./Roxbury) will back up Vega in goal, a luxury the team did not have last year. Tillyer will likely see a good amount of time while the team looks to not overextend Vega two years in a row.

New Paltz will start the 2011 non-conference schedule at home, hosting local rival Vassar College on Sept. 1. The Hawks will then host the Michelle Vargas-Robin Memorial Tournament on Sept. 3 and 4, facing Maritime College and New Jersey City University. They then hit the road for the rest of the non-conference season, battling Ramapo College on Sept. 7 before participating in the Rutgers-Newark Tournament. In that tournament, the Hawks face Widener University on Sept. 9 and Carthage College on Sept. 10. On Sept. 17, New Paltz approaches its final obstacle on its way to the yearly SUNYAC grind, going up against Bard College.

After such a gut-wrenching postseason ending to the 2010 campaign, Bruley expects the team to recover and set expectations even higher.

“Our goal is to get past that first round,” Bruley said. “It's something we've never been able to do, and if we do that, I think this team can do anything. Once you get past the first round, anything can happen in the SUNYAC. Our goal, of course, is to always win the SUNYAC championship, and there's no reason that we can't. We have the skill to do it. We're getting fitter every day. We have the leadership, and we're all on the same page. This could be the year.”