Cortland Earns NCAA Men's Soccer Berth; Red Dragons Hosting Regional Saturday/Sunday
Cortland Sports Information Department
The SUNY Cortland men's soccer team has earned an at-large berth into the 62-team NCAA Division III playoffs and will host a four-team regional on Saturday and Sunday, November 10-11. The Red Dragons (15-2-3) will play Newbury College (Mass.) (11-4-4) in the first round Saturday at 5 p.m., with Williams College (Mass.) (10-5-3) meeting Elizabethtown College (Pa.) (10-4-4) in the other first-round game at 7:30 p.m. The two winners will meet in the second round at Cortland Sunday at 5 p.m.
Cortland, under seventh-year head coach Steve Axtell, will be making its 22nd NCAA tournament appearance and fourth in five years. The Red Dragons were the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) regular-season champions, but lost in the league tournament finals and were selected for one of 19 national "Pool C" at-large bids.
Cortland advanced to the NCAA second round last year with a win over Mount Saint Mary, 3-0, before losing to Stevens Institute of Technology. In 2016, the Red Dragons made it to the "Sweet 16" with home wins over Morrisville, 5-1, and Scranton, 2-1, before losing, 1-0 in overtime, to Franklin & Marshall in the third round. The Red Dragons also progressed to the national third round in 2014 with neutral-field wins over Neumann, 3-0, and Rutgers-Newark, 2-1, in Babson Park, Mass.
Cortland has nine top-five national finishes, including a second-place showing in 1977, a third-place finish in 1978 and a tie for third in 1982. Three of Cortland's previous NCAA tournament appearances came as a Division I program in 1960, 1964 and 1966 prior to the advent of Division III.
Newbury will be making its first NCAA tournament appearance. The Nighthawks earned an automatic berth after winning the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) title with a 1-0 overtime win versus Mitchell College.
Williams earned an at-large berth into the playoffs. Seeded sixth, the Ephs played to a scoreless tie versus eighth-seeded Colby College in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) finals, but the Mules advanced, 4-3, on penalty kicks. Williams is making its 19th NCAA appearance. The Ephs won the 1995 national title, finished second in 1993, and advanced to the national semifinals on four others occasions (1998, 2009, 2012, 2013).
Elizabethtown will be making its 26th NCAA appearance overall and second in three seasons. The Blue Jays won their first Landmark Conference title with a 1-0 victory over Catholic University. Elizabethtown captured its first league title since 2006, when it was a member of the MAC Commonwealth. Elizabethtown won the 1989 national title and finished third in 1976.
Jake Keller (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) leads Cortland this fall with 33 points on 14 goals and five assists and Migell Ormsby (Kingston, Jamaica/DeWitt Clinton (NY)) has 10 goals and two assists for 22 points. Keller and Ormsby have combined for 11 game-winning goals - six by Keller and five by Ormsby. Miguel Tunas (Carmel/North Salem) is the team leader with 10 assists. Goalkeeper Sean Kelly (Coram/Newfield) has set a school single-season record with 12 shutouts. He's 14-1-3 in 19 starts with a 0.53 GAA and .836 save percentage. The Red Dragons have outscored their opponents by a 44-16 margin.
NCAA Selection Release
NCAA Interactive Bracket
Live Stats (all games)
Video Page (direct links to video will be on that page)
