Cortland Sports Information Department
The Cortland women's soccer team will be making its 13th NCAA Division III tournament appearance and 18th overall national tournament appearance when the Red Dragons (12-5-2) face Tufts University (12-3-2) in a first-round game Saturday, Nov. 16, at 3:30 p.m. at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, N.J.
The other first-round game in the four-team bracket at TCNJ features the host Lions (16-1-1) versus John Jay (12-6-1) Saturday at 1 p.m. The two advancing teams will play Sunday, Nov. 17, at 3 p.m. at TCNJ.
Cortland, under 16th-year head coach Heidi Axtell, earned an NCAA automatic berth by defeating host Geneseo, 1-0 in overtime, in the SUNYAC tournament championship game this past Saturday. The Red Dragons won their first SUNYAC title since 2012.
Cortland tied for ninth nationally in 2012 and advanced to the national quarterfinals to tie for fifth place in 2011. The Red Dragons were the 1992 NCAA Division III champion, were national runner-up in 1990, and were a national semifinalist in 1986. Cortland's previous national appearances include four NCAA Division I tournaments from 1982-85 and a win in the 1980 U.S. National Women's Soccer Championship, which predated the NCAA playoffs.
Sophomore forward Jaden Galluzzo (Commack) leads Cortland with 10 goals and six assists for 26 points. She scored the overtime game-winning goal at Geneseo in the SUNYAC finals. Junior goalie Danika Svendsen (Stillwater) has a 0.93 goals-against average, .841 save percentage, 95 saves and six shutouts in 19 starts.
Tufts was the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) regular-season champion with a 7-2-1 league mark. The Jumbos beat Bowdoin in overtime in the NESCAC quarterfinals before losing to Amherst in the semifinals.
Cortland has never faced either Tufts or John Jay. The Red Dragons have played TCNJ twice. Cortland beat then-Trenton State, 1-0, in the 1992 NCAA quarterfinals on the way to capturing the national title, and the Red Dragons lost to TCNJ, 1-0, in 1996 at the Binghamton University Invitational. TCNJ won both the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) regular-season and postseason titles this fall. John Jay was the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) regular-season and playoff champion.