Cortland Standard .net

GENEVA — Despite ending the regular season with a shutout loss, the SUNY Cortland women’s hockey team still came up with an historic accomplishment over the weekend.
Coach Earl Utter’s Red Dragons will be headed to the ECAC West playoffs for the first time ever after finishing sixth in the final league standings, though the team dropped a 4-0 outing at William Smith on Sunday.
Cortland actually clinched the sixth seed and final playoff berth on Saturday with a 3-2 win at William Smith, as senior Abbie Adams and junior Corey Temple each had a goal and an assist.
The Red Dragons finished 6-10-2 in the ECAC West, and will travel to face third-seeded Oswego at 3 p.m. this coming Saturday in a conference quarterfinal round contest. Cortland stands 8-15-2 overall.
Fourth-seeded Utica will host fifth-seeded Buffalo State in the other quarterfinal contest. Top-seeded Elmira and second-seeded Plattsburgh earned byes into the semifinals, with Elmira to host the league’s “Final Four” March 7-8.
In Cortland’s 3-2 win on Saturday, William Smith (2-15-1 ECAC West, 3-21-1 overall) took a 1-0 lead on a Catherine Linehan goal 5:22 into the contest.
Cortland tied the game with 5:22 left in the first period when Temple scored off an assist from Adams. The Red Dragons grabbed the lead 13 minutes into the second period on an Adams goal, assisted by Temple, and the lead grew to 3-1 just over two minutes later when junior Niamh O’Connor scored an unassisted power-play goal.
The Herons made things interesting when Kiley Fewster scored on a power play 8:30 into the third period. William Smith eventually pulled goalie Maggie Salmon for an extra attacker with 1:40 remaining, but Cortland junior netminder Deanna Meunier made two of her 20 saves to preserve the victory.
Cortland held a 50-22 shot advantage in the win, Salmon with 47 saves for William Smith.
In the 4-0 loss to the Herons on Sunday, Salmon had 42 saves for the shutout as the winners got goals from Rebecca Begley, Rachel McKay, Catherine Linehan and Kiley Fewster. Sophomore goalie Kelly Farinella made 24 saves for Cortland.
IN MEN’S HOCKEY: Cortland finished up SUNY Athletic Conference play with a 3-11-2 record — standing 9-13-3 overall — after losing to nationally-ranked Plattsburgh 5-2 on Saturday night.
The ninth-ranked Cardinals scored four consecutive goals from the first into the second periods at Cortland’s Alumni Arena, giving Plattsburgh the regular season title and the top seed heading into the upcoming conference tournament.
Plattsburgh (13-2-1 SUNYAC, 18-5-2 overall) took over the top spot with the win and Oswego’s 4-2 home ice loss to Potsdam on Saturday.
Cortland’s Nick Zappia, one of four departing seniors for the Red Dragons who entered the game as Division III’s leading point and goal scorer, had a 26-game point-scoring streak dating back to last season snapped. He finished his career sixth all-time in scoring at Cortland with 109 points on 58 goals and 51 assists.
Junior Michael Mascaro and freshman Darren McCormick scored for the Red Dragons against Plattsburgh, with junior Kyle Herring picking up a pair of assists.
Senior Alex Brenton tallied twice for Plattsburgh, while senior Connor Toomey, junior Connor Gorman and freshman Ayrton Valente also scored.
IN SWIMMING: Cortland men finished second behind defending champion Geneseo as SUNYAC Swimming and Diving Championships finished up Saturday, with head coach Brian Tobin being named Coach of the Year for the fourth time.
At Eric Community College’s Burt Flickinger Center, the 400-yard freestyle relay team established a new conference and school record as to close the final day of competition as sophomore Dylan Burns, junior Reeve Callen, senior Mark Hanifin and senior Luke Strothenke won in a time of 3:05.80.
The previous SUNYAC and meet record was 3:06.14 by Geneseo last year, and the prior school record was 3:06.24 by Mark Schoenherr, Ben Strickland, Dan Maximowicz and Judd Simon in 2013.
Callen finished second in the 100-yard freestyle in 46.27 seconds, Hanifin placed third in the 100-yard freestyle (46.39) and junior Jack Jakubek finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:08.41).Geneseo repeated as league champion with 881 points. Cortland finished with 520 points, followed by Oneonta with 418.
Cortland women finished eighth, with Geneseo taking the team title. Senior Krista Caputo finished third in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 18:00.15 during Saturday’s final session.
IN TRACK AND FIELD: Cortland senior Andre Green set a school record in the long jump during the Ithaca College Quad Meet held this past Friday, coming up with a winning 23 feet-8.75 inches leap.
The Red Dragons also swept the top three spots in the pole vault, Connor Ten Eyck’s winning at 15-1 with Charlie Kollmer second (13-11.25) and Corey Fitchett third (13-5.25). Also grabbing thirds were Dawan Jones in the triple jump (44-8) and long jump (22-1.5) and Connor Christopher in the high jump (6-0).
On Saturday at the Deneault Memorial at Cornell University’s Barton Hall, sprinter Melique Garcia won the 200-meter dash in 22.02, and currently ranks second nationally in Division III at that event. The 3,200-meter relay foursome of Charlie Beeler, Nate Wicks, Nate Ashton and Baily Imbo also ran first in 7:59.46 time.
Joe Shinnn was second in the 60m hurdles (8.15).
For Cortland women at the Deneault Memorial, Taylor Hudson tied her school record with a second place high jump of 5 feet-7 inches. She ranks second nationally in the high jump, and also took third in the long jump with a person best 18-7.75 leap that is the fourth best in the nation so far this season.
IN WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS: Senior Elise Konikoff tied for first on balance beam, sophomore Michaela Stumpf placed second on vault and junior Maddy Scozzie finished second on uneven bars during Cortland’s 191.05-186.375 dual-meet loss at Brockport Saturday.
Konikoff posted a score of 9.70 on balance beam to finish tied with Brockport’s Lily Jagodzinski for the lone first place for the Red Dragons.