After starting the season with a tough, 1-4 loss against Rochester, the SUNY Cortland Men’s Soccer team have quickly turned their season around.
The Red Dragons record has improved to 5-1-1, 4-0 at home, following Saturday’s home win against Alvernia.
The Red Dragons were led by Senior Jack Coleman, who scored 2 goals in Saturday’s game, allowing Cortland to remain undefeated at home. Juniors Matt Schultz and Yasin Choukr added one goal a piece to help Cortland walk off the field with another win. Logan Comfort recorded 2 assists, along with sophomore goalie Jordan Ott making 5 saves.
Coleman stated, “we weren’t getting enough shots on goal in the first game which we’ve turned around significantly. Also, we didn’t control what we could in that first game. The ref calling three penalty kicks took us off our game and we didn’t give ourselves a chance to come back. We’ve learned from that. In 4 of our 7 games we’ve gone down first and came back to win or tie that game. I see more potential in this team this year than any other.”
The Red Dragons have not allowed that initial loss to hold them back or get them down moving forward. They have won every game since losing the season opener, except one tie to Rowan. Cortland has continually proved that they can answer back and make big plays to win games.
“Last year we had a bunch of talent come in but, it was a different look from the team that won us the SUNYAC the year before,” Coleman said. “It took us a while to develop our chemistry and we lost some close games because of that. This year we’ve returned a lot of big players from last year, only losing two starters. The big thing that separates us from last year is we got that chemistry on the field and we all believe we can do something special.”
The Red Dragons have proved that they are a team that can make plays again this year and pull out big wins despite the rough start to the season. The chemistry of this team and the desire to win will allow them to go far this season.
“We have our eyes on the SUNYAC Championship, but when it comes to the tournament, I think if we stay healthy and confident we can go win the whole thing,” said Coleman.
The Red Dragons will host Ithaca this Wednesday (9/20) as their last out-of-conference game. Following Wednesday’s home game, the team will get back on the road Saturday (9/23) and take a trip to Fredonia for the start of conference–SUNYAC–play.