Cortland Sports Information Department
The SUNY Cortland men's lacrosse team has earned an automatic berth into the 2022 NCAA Division III playoffs and will face St. Lawrence University in a second-round game on Saturday, May 14, at 3 p.m. at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
The 38-team tournament will begin with six first-round games on Wednesday, followed by 16 second-round games on Saturday. The winner of the game between Cortland (13-6) and St. Lawrence (13-4) will play either Bowdoin (16-2) or Colorado College (7-7) in the third round Sunday at 3 p.m. at Bowdoin.
The tournament continues with quarterfinal and semifinal games May 21-22, and the national championship game is May 29 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn.
Cortland, under 16th-year head coach Steve Beville, is making its 21st straight NCAA tournament appearance and 37th overall, including 30 on the Division III level. The Red Dragons have played in every NCAA tournament since 2001 (the 2020 tournament was canceled).
Cortland earned its playoff berth by defeating visiting Geneseo, 7-6, in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championship game this past Saturday for its 28th league title.
St. Lawrence earned an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament. The Saints are 13-4 and were the Liberty League tournament runner-up after losing to defending national champion RIT in the conference title game.
Cortland is 24-13 all-time versus St. Lawrence, including NCAA wins at St. Lawrence in the 2007 second round, 13-8, and the 2017 third round, 20-10. The Saints, however, have won the last two meetings between the schools with victories at Cortland in 2020, about a week prior the season being halted, and this spring, 14-8, in a game on a neutral field in Cornelius, N.C.
Cortland has reached the national quarterfinals 15 times in its last 19 tournament appearances. The Red Dragons have played in the national championship game five times since 2006, with four straight showings from 2006-09 as well as an appearance in 2012. Cortland won the 2006 national crown versus Salisbury and the 2009 title against Gettysburg. The Red Dragons lost to Salisbury in the national finals in 2007, 2008 and 2012.
In addition to its Division III titles in 2006 and 2009, Cortland also won the 1975 NCAA Division II title and the 1973 USILA College Division, a year before the NCAA started sponsoring a championship for Division II. Cortland was national runner-up in the first two NCAA Division III tournaments in 1980 and 1981.
