This season the Red Dragon’s Women’s Soccer team has had one goal in mind “Do it again”. Last year Cortland completed their “redemption” season, since in 2022 they lost in the SUNYAC Finals to Geneseo on penalty kicks. The 2023 campaign included a conference record of five wins, no losses and four draws. A win in the SUNYAC semi-finals against Oswego 2-1 propelled Cortland into the finals against Brockport where they captured the championship in a 3-0 victory. This year the team’s goal is to end with the same results by any means necessary.
Starting this 2024 season our ladies are picking up where they left as they have only lost two out of their eleven matches this season. Against top ranked teams Cortland stayed competitive, in a competition earlier in the year versus number three ranked (Region IV) Miscordia falling 2-3 after coming up short of a late game comeback. They also drew against number one ranked Carnegie Mellon (Region VII). Conference play is where the Red Dragon’s have hit their stride playing in unison on both sides of the ball. During the duration of the conference season Cortland has scored over fifteen goals while only allowing one on the defensive side throughout seven games. After a dominant week where the ladies defeated Fredonia and Morrisville 1-0 and 7-0 respectively, I spent some time with a few of the Red Dragons.
Sage Luke, and Ashlynn McGroty are extraordinary student athletes, who I got to speak to briefly after their win at home against Morrisville. Luke and Mcgroty were freshman at Cortland when they came up short to Geneseo, now as juniors I asked them how their roles have changed over the past couple seasons and how they have handled it? Sage, who plays forward and is from Schenectady, New York, told me “As a freshman I was focused on learning from upperclassmen, now as an experienced junior I’ve stepped into a leadership role not only on the field , but helping guide new players as well. The transition wasn’t easy but I just leaned on my teammates and personal growth plus building team chemistry played a major part.” Ashlynn agreed that building chemistry has been a focal part of their success including their game against Carnegie Mellon. McGroty said that’s where she knew this team was equipped with the potential to make a postseason push.
“I realized we had that potential after the match against Carnegie Mellon, the number six ranked team in the country at the time. We had never faced them before in school history and our defense came out with a solid game plan while the offense had some amazing looks on goal. To tie with them and know we could match up with that caliber of talent helped us realize a lot about ourselves and we were capable of competing with teams no matter the ranking.” With the regular season coming to an end and playoffs right around the corner I asked both ladies what a shot at a back to back SUNYAC championship would mean to them. They replied in unison “Everything”. “Winning the conference is the best way for us to reach the national tournament and continuing our season, the SUNYAC is a year long goal so it’s like the icing on the cake” said Ashlynn. “A title is a testament to all the hardwork and dedication we put into our season, we’ve faced a lot of challenges and injuries so we’ve had to learn how to fight for one another so winning would mean a lot to this team” Luke reiterated. As Cortland looks to close this season and capture the title they’ve sought out for since August, they are dialed in and focused on their main goal, good luck to them and Go Red Dragons!!!