Cortland Earns NCAA Men's Soccer Bid, Will Face Medaille in First Round Saturday at F&M
Cortland Sports Information Department
The Cortland men's soccer team has earned a berth into the 64-team NCAA Division III playoffs and will travel to a four-team regional hosted by Franklin & Marshall College Nov. 12-13. The Red Dragons (12-5-2) will play Medaille University (12-1-6) in the first round Saturday at 3:30 p.m., with the other first-round game featuring the host Diplomats (12-2-4) versus the University of St. Joseph (Conn.) (13-3-3) at 1 p.m. The two winners will meet in the second round at F&M Sunday at 3 p.m.
The regional champion will advance to a four-team sectional Nov. 19-20 at a site to be determined. The NCAA semifinals and finals will be held December 1 and 3 in Salem, Va.
Cortland, under 11th-year head coach Steve Axtell, will be making its 24th NCAA tournament appearance and sixth since 2014. The Red Dragons were the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) regular-season champions and earned an NCAA "Pool C" at-large berth after losing to Brockport in the conference tournament semifinals.
Under Axtell, Cortland advanced to the NCAA "Sweet 16" in 2021, 2018, 2016 and 2014, tying for ninth nationally in those seasons. The Red Dragons won their tournament opener in 2017 and tied for 17th place. Overall, 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.
Junior midfielder Mateo Marra (Ossining) leads Cortland this fall with nine goals and nine assists for 27 points. Junior forward Jack Coleman (Newark Valley/Maine-Endwell) has seven goals and four assists for 18 points and sophomore forward Matt Shultz (Oneonta) has seven goals and two assists for 16 points. Freshman goalie Luke van Galen (Georgetown, MA) has a 12-4-2 record with a 1.39 GAA and five shutouts.
Medaille won the Empire 8 title and earned an NCAA automatic berth with a 3-2 win over Utica University in the league's championship game last Saturday. The Mavericks are making their eighth NCAA tournament showing and first since 2017.
