Cortland Sports Information Department
The Cortland women's soccer team will be making its 14th NCAA Division III tournament appearance and 19th overall national tournament showing when the Red Dragons host a four-team regional Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 12-13, at Holloway Field.
Cortland (13-1-4) will face Wesleyan University (Conn.) (8-5-5) in a first-round game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Messiah University (17-1-2) will play Penn State Berks (13-5-2) in Saturday's first contest at 11 a.m., and the two winners will meet Sunday at 1 p.m. at Cortland in the second round. 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 2 and 4 in Salem, Va.
Cortland, under 19th-year head coach Heidi Axtell, earned an NCAA "Pool C" at-large berth after playing to a 1-1 tie versus Geneseo in the SUNYAC championship game. Geneseo earned the league crown and NCAA automatic berth in penalty kicks. Cortland was the SUNYAC regular-season champion with an 8-0-1 league mark.
The Red Dragons are heading to the NCAA playoffs for second time in three seasons. Cortland lost to Tufts in the 2019 NCAA first round. 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.
Cortland is led by graduate student forward Jaden Galluzzo (Commack) with 15 goals and five assists for 35 points in 18 games. Junior forward Simone Neivel (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) and graduate student forward Jayden Kelley (East Berne/Voorheesville) have each scored seven goals and sophomore midfielder Katie Cosenza (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) leads the team with eight assists, followed by freshman forward Julia DeTurris (Hicksville) with seven. Sophomore goalie Kristen Spendal (Dumont, NJ) has started all 18 games in goal and has a 13-1-4 record, 0.46 GAA, .875 save percentage and nine shutouts.
Wesleyan made its first NCAA appearance last fall and won four straight games before losing to TCNJ, 1-0, in the national semifinals. The Cardinals earned an NCAA "Pool C" at-large bid after losing to Amherst, 2-0, in the NESCAC championship game. Messiah is making its 22nd NCAA appearance – the Falcons have won six national titles, most recently in 2019, and have been national runner-up three times. Messiah earned an NCAA automatic bid after defeating York (Pa.), 2-0, in the MAC Commonwealth Championship title game. Penn St. Berks is making its eighth NCAA appearances; the previous seven were consecutive from 2013-19. The Nittany Lions won the United East title with a 3-0 overtime win vs. Penn St. Harrisburg to punch their ticket to the national tournament.
