Posted: Nov 15, 2014
Cortland, which is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008, moves to 15-4-1 with the win. Neumann, which returned to the national tournament for the first time since 2011, sees its season come to a close at 10-9-2 overall.
Junior Robby Reiser (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East) and sophomore Nick Tata (Rochester/Aquinas Institute) each added a goal for the Red Dragons, who led 1-0 at halftime. Senior Darren McCormack (Dublin, Ireland/Fingal Community), junior Ole Daumann (Hamburg, Germany/Sachsenwaldschule Reinbek) and freshman Drew DeJohn (Spencerport) chipped in with one assist apiece. DeJohn's assist was the first point of his collegiate career.
Senior goalkeeper Tim Beauvais (Hilton) needed to make just two stops for the Red Dragons to earn his 10th clean sheet of the season. Neumann goalie Dan Jones turned away six shots on the afternoon.
Senior goalkeeper Tim Beauvais (Hilton) needed to make just two stops for the Red Dragons to earn his 10th clean sheet of the season. Neumann goalie Dan Jones turned away six shots on the afternoon.
Cortland controlled play throughout much of the first half and finally broke the scoreless deadlock on Toepfer's eighth marker of the year in the 29th minute. After coming up empty on back-to-back corner kicks, Toepfer rose above a defender at the back post and buried his header past Jones for a 1-0 edge.
The Red Dragons wasted little time adding to their lead after the break as Reiser notched his eighth goal of the year in the 53rd minute. McCormack got the scoring play started by sending a ball into space on the right flank where DeJohn took one dribble and drove a low cross into the box for Reiser, who made a far post run and had an easy finish from inside the six-yard box to extend the lead.
Cortland added another insurance goal in the 74th minute when Tata took a feed from Toepfer and hit a 25-yard blast from the center of the field over Jones and just under the crossbar to make it 3-0.
Neumann's best chance to get on the scoreboard came late in the match off a corner kick. Senior Brooks Skyers' service bounced inside the six-yard box, but a pair of Knights forwards were unable to get a foot on it before it was cleared out of danger by a Red Dragon defender in the 77th minute.
The Red Dragons held a 22-5 edge in shots and attempted six of the game's nine corner kicks.
Cortland will meet Rutgers-Newark, a 2-0 winner over host Babson College in Saturday's opening match, in the second round on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs with the winner advancing to the "sweet 16."
Cortland 3, Neumann 0
Scoring Summary:
Cortland: Ole Toepfer 1-1, Robby Reiser 1-0, Nick Tata 1-0, Ole Daumann 0-1, Drew DeJohn 0-1, Darren McCormack 0-1
Neumann: no scoring
Halftime: Cortland 1, Neumann 0
Shots: Cortland 22, Neumann 5
Corner Kicks: Cortland 6, Neumann 3
Fouls: Neumann 11, Cortland 11
Saves: Tim Beauvais (Cortland) 2 (0 GA in 90:00); Dan Jones (Neumann) 6 (3 GA in 90:00)
Record after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 15-4-1; Neumann (Knights) 10-9-2
