SUNY Cortland Athletics

YORK, PA. - Sadie Hoffmann (Miller Place) scored the game-winning goal with just more than five minutes left in regulation as the nationally 22nd-ranked Cortland field hockey team remained unbeaten with a 2-1 win at York College.
 
Cortland (5-0) had lost its previous two meetings with the Spartans - 2-0 at home last year and 1-0 at York in 2024. York dropped to 2-3 on the season with the setback.
 
York outshot Cortland, 20-10, including a 6-0 margin in the first quarter, and the Spartans had 12 penalty corners to the Red Dragons' eight. Cortland goalie Sofia Cannistraci (Guilderland) finished with nine saves - four in the first half and five in the second. York goalie Maddy Merlack made five saves.
 
After a scoreless first half, York got on the board 2:34 into the third quarter. Hannah Downs controlled a Cortland clearing pass and sent the ball through traffic in the circle. Kate Egan lifted a reverse-stick shot into the left side of the cage to put the Spartans up 1-0.
 
Cortland tied the game less than five minutes later on Claire Flanagan's (Greene) second goal of the season. Hoffmann took a shot during a penalty corner play that hit off the post. The ball came right out to Flanagan, who quickly scored the tying goal from the left side of the circle.
 
Hoffman's winning goal, with 5:13 remaining, also resulted from a Cortland penalty corner. Lillian Morse (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) gathered in the corner insert at the top of the circle and sent a pass left to Hoffmann, who proceeded to blast the ball into the left side of the cage for her second goal of the year. Neither team registered a shot the rest of the way.
 
Cortland returns to action next Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 5 p.m. with a non-conference tilt at William Smith.