Cortland Sports Information Department
The SUNY Cortland women's lacrosse team will open the 2022 NCAA Division III playoffs by hosting a three-team, first and second-round pod on Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15. The Red Dragons (15-4) will face Western Connecticut State (15-4) in a first-round game on Saturday, and that winner will play Roger Williams (16-1) in the second round at Cortland on Sunday. The tentative start time for each game is 1 p.m.
The winner of the pod will advance to a four-team regional May 21-22 at a site to be determined. The national semifinals and finals will be held May 28-29 at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Va.
The Red Dragons, led by first-year head coach Kelsey Van Alstyne, earned an automatic berth into the 46-team NCAA field after capturing their 23rd State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament title with a 16-14 win over visiting Geneseo this past Saturday.
The Red Dragons will be making their 24th NCAA appearance (Cortland also competed in five AIAW or USWLA national tournaments from 1979-1984). Last season the Red Dragons won NCAA playoff games versus Transylvania, 18-5, and Rhodes, 23-12, both at Rhodes, before losing to Messiah, 16-12, in the NCAA third round in Maine to tie for ninth place nationally. Cortland advanced to at least the national semifinals six straight years from 2011-16, winning the national title in 2015.
Cortland has won 14 straight games this spring after opening the season with a 1-4 record. Three of those losses were against NCAA qualifiers Ithaca, Messiah and Salisbury.
Western Connecticut earned an NCAA automatic bid after defeating Plymouth State, 17-4, in the Little East tournament championship game. Roger Williams, which has won 16 straight games after a season-opening loss to Springfield, punched its NCAA ticket with a 12-7 win over Endicott in the finals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference playoffs.
Cortland and Western Connecticut St. played in Cortland on March 25 in the first-ever meeting between the schools. The Red Dragons won that contest, 17-8. Cortland and Roger Williams have played once previously, with Cortland defeating the Hawks, 18-6, on a neutral field at Springfield College in 2018.
