SUNY Cortland Sport Clubs

November 9, 2009
Cortland, NY

The SUNY Cortland Hula Hoop Club has posted video from their first-ever performance. Please click here to view their performance!

November 6-8, 2009
Rochester, NY/Cortland, NY

The SUNY Cortland ice hockey club enjoyed a successful weekend, sweeping three games and improving their record to 5-2 on the season. On Friday night, the Red Dragons traveled to Rochester to take on St. John Fisher in a non-conference matchup. Despite sloppy play, Cortland was able to pull out a 2-1 victory thanks to two goals from Joe Laffin and solid play from freshman goaltender Matt Scanlan.

On Saturday Cortland returned home for a game against conference rival Penn State Berks. Since the inception of the league in 2007-2008, Cortland had never beaten the Nittany Ice Lions (0-5), including last year’s 5-4 NECHL semi-final shootout loss. Cortland would have their revenge though, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead after the first period. Cortland got into penalty trouble in the second period, but the club was able to weather the storm and maintain and 4-2 lead after 2 periods. Penn State rallied in the third period climbing to within a goal at 5-4, but the Red Dragon defense held and goaltender Nathan Mellow (39 saves) made some big saves down the stretch to preserve a hard-fought 6-4 win, Cortland’s first ever over Penn State. Cortland used balanced scoring in the victory, getting goals from 6 different players: Chamberlain, Fitzgerald, Granice, Purcell, Smith, and Tracy.

On Sunday night, Cortland kept riding their wave of success as they welcomed non-conference opponent RIT to Alumni Arena.  Kyle Smith (2) got the scoring going midway through the first period, with assists coming from Miele and Laffin. In the second period, Marc Plante netted the game winner and Kyle Smith added his second of the night to seal the victory over the Tigers, 3-1.

With the three wins, Cortland (5-2, 2-2 NECHL) pushed their win streak to 5. The club looks to put the streak on the line this weekend with a pair of NECHL games against local rival Cornell. The Red Dragons travel to Ithaca on Saturday night before playing the back end of the home-and-home series against the Big Red at Alumni Arena on Sunday afternoon. Game time for Sunday is set for 3:30pm. Come support your SUNY Cortland ice hockey club! Admission is free!

October 24, 2009
Cortland, NY

Semi-Final: Cortland v. Ithaca

This weekend marked the finale to the Cortland Men’s club soccer team’s season. On Saturday, October 24th, the CCSL tournament took place on the campus of SUNY Cortland. In this tournament, there were four teams participating which included: Ithaca, Cornell, ESF and Cortland.  The two semi-final matches were between ESF and Cornell and Cortland faced off against Ithaca to see who would battle it out in the championship for the CCSL tournament crown.

The Cortland v. Ithaca match was a rematch in which Ithaca won the first contest 4-2. Cortland was truly set on revenge in this match and Ithaca clearly was out to put forth a similar result to move on in the tournament.  It looked like Ithaca hadn’t missed a beat from their last meeting as they jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead over Cortland. The goal was scored on the 3rd minute of the game and was a product of miscommunication in the back for Cortland’s defense and opportunistic finishing on Ithaca’s behalf.

Although it looked like deja vu all over again for Cortland’s team, it did not disrupt them from making a comeback. They scored later in the first half when Brendan Wells finished a well timed cross with a header to make the score tied at 1-1. The first half was hard fought in the midfield and exhibited timely and fundamentally sound defense by both sides. The score remained tied after the first half of action and would pick up the pace in the second half.

It was Cortland who took the lead in the second half when Casey Quinn contributed to the scoring column when he headed a cross into the back of the net to give Cortland a 2-1 lead. This goal was another good example of well timed far post runs and good crossing that made the difference in the match. Throughout the second half, the play was rough and tough as Ithaca tried to keep the pressure up as they searched for a tying goal.  Ithaca’s effort fell short in the end as they could not finish on their attempts and Cortland moved on with a 2-1 semi-final victory.

Cortland’s game ended early as they awaited the final score of the other semi-final match. After about 10 minutes of waiting an end result was given, and it was ESF who came out on top with a 1-0 overtime victory over Cornell. So the final match was set up and in 70 minutes of play a champion would be dedided.

Box Score: Cortland 2 Ithaca 1
Cortland: Brendan Wells 1-0, Casey Quinn 1-0

Final: Cortland v. ESF

Shortly after both semi-final matches were completed the championship game was under way.  The match was between ESF and Cortland which also was a rematch from earlier in the season in which the two teams tied 1-1. Unlike the semi-final match, Cortland would not find itself behind early.  They quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Casey Quinn finished a low cross by Brendan Wells into the goal at 3 minutes.  It was Quinn’s second consecutive goal of the tournament and was also a huge confidence boost for the Red Dragon club.

Fifteen minutes after the first goal, Cortland struck again. This time Tom Baker took on a few defenders from the ESF backline and calmly passed the ball to Pete Ostrander who put the ball into the net for the 2-0 lead. Cortland seemed on top of its game after this goal and started to control most of the play throughout the entire first half.

The second half saw ESF trying to attack as much as they could.  Lots of pressure was put on the Cortland defense but ESF simply couldn’t net any chances they had.  Cortland had a decent 2-0 lead, but was in search of some insurance when Tom Baker did jus that as he tallied the 3rd goal for Cortland. Baker, who was a distributor throughout most of the tournament finally got his chance at the 55th minute of play and made it 3-0.  Although Cortland tried to play more defensive after this goal, another chance came at the 65th minute. Mike Mendez was lead on by a good through ball that put him one on one with the ESF keeper. He curled a ball past the keeper knocking the ball off the left post and into the goal for the 4th and final goal of the game.

In the end, Cortland won the CCSL championship game 4-0 and had earned itself the championship cup. This marked the end of a season in which Cortland started out a little bit slow but finished very strong as they won both regular season and tournament playoff championships. A job well done to the Cortland Men’s Club Soccer Team.

Box Score: Cortland 4 ESF 0
Cortland: Casey Quinn: 1-0, Pete Ostrander 1-0, Tom Baker 1-2, Mike Mendez 1-0, Mike Porter 0-1, Rich Piscano

Report submitted by: Mike Porter

October 24, 2009
Binghamton, NY

On Saturday October 24th Club Swimming traveled to Binghamton University to compete in a tri-meet along with Binghamton Club Swimming and Ithaca College Club Swimming. Although the hosts did not keep score Club Swimming had an awesome time and had some personal best records!

Cortland Club Swimming captured 1st place in all three relays. The 200-medley relay comprised of Matt Yates, Nick Kaiser, Alison Charlebois, and Ryan Siebert grabbed first place in a record time of 1:59.7 shortly followed by Ithaca. The 200 freestyle relay took first with a time of 1:48.8 in many thanks to Matt Yates, Kyle Luqman, Kurt Kaasman, and Laura Cantori. Finally the 400 freestyle relay of Ryan Siebert, Jon Paladini, Kurt Kaasman, and Matt Yates took first in a heated battle with Binghamton in a time of 3:56.4.

Other notable top finishes was Alison Charlebois in the 100 IM in a time of 1:12.5, Matt Yates in the 50 yard freestyle in a time of 22.7, Ryan Siebert in the 100 yard freestyle in a time of 58.0. Also Club Swimming would like to congratulate Laura Cantori for a 4th place finish in the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:25.1 and Kurt Kaasman with a 2nd place finish in the 100 yard freestyle in a time of 58.5.

Personal records were set by Mercedes Cozens (32.7), Chris Fusco (29.2), Brendan Ross (28.6), and Meghan Hehir (39.2) in the 50-yard freestyle. Club Swimming would like to recognize Ryan Siebert (58.0) and Kurt Kaasman (58.5) for setting personal records in the 100 yard freestyle and Mariel Lariosa (1:47.7) in the 100 yard breaststroke.

Many thanks to Binghamton for hosting the meet and a special thank you to our club treasurer Nick LaFera for keeping track of all the times. All in all SUNY Cortland Club Swimming had a fantastic time and are certainly looking forward to their next meet against SUNY New Paltz.

October 6, 2009
Cortland, NY

On Tuesday evening, October 6th, the Cortland State red dragons soccer team had a league match under the lights against Cornell’s club team. This was a match up of two top teams in the league standings and the winner of this match very well could be the winner of the league. With a record of 1-1-1, SUNY Cortland sat right behind Cornell in the standings prior to this match. The first half of play was a back and forth affair, Cornell appeared to be keeping good possession of the ball while Cortland had created a few chances of their own. Around the 20th minute of play, Cortland was awarded a corner kick down the left side of the field. Tom Baker lined up the kick and swung the ball into the far post position of the goal. The ball was just out of the Cornell goal keepers reach and was sent into the back of the net by Peter Ostrander on a sliding volley. The score now was in favor of Cortland 1-0 and seemed to ignite their play as well. With momentum on their side Cortland began to take control for the remainder of the half but didn’t finish on the numerous chances the had created. With the half winding down, Cornell finished on one of their opportunities inside the box and tied the game at 1-1.

A disappointing end to a well played first half didn’t stop the Cortland players from coming back and playing a solid 2nd half. At the 55th minute, Ostrander struck again when he finished a quick throw-in pass from Brendan Wells. This pass lead Ostrander to a break away with the Cornell keeper and he calmly put the ball into the back of the net to break the tie at 2-1. Later, in the 65th minute, Tom Baker got into the action for Cortland when he scored on a 18 yard shot that deflected into the goal and gave Cortland a 3-1 lead.  The second half was controlled by SUNY Cortland but Cornell gave a comeback effort near the end of the match. With 10 minutes remaining, Cornell again took advantage of their opportunity and drilled a shot into the back of the net slimming the lead to 3-2. The last 10 minutes of the game was spent on Cortland’s half of the field as Cornell forced pressure on its defense. The threatening attacks of Cornell weren’t enough as they came up short and the game ended at 3-2 giving Cortland its second win in the league. With the victory Cortland moves to 2-1-1 and with the win against Cornell boosts them into what looks to be a number one seed in the league tournament.
Box Score:
Cortland: Peter Ostrander: 2-0, Tom Baker: 1-1, Brendan Wells 0-1

written and contributed by Mike Porter