Senior captain Evan Wyler
8/10/2010
The SUNY Cortland football team is the top choice among 10 teams in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) preseason poll, as voted upon by the league’s coaches. The Red Dragons return 17 starters and 61 players overall, including 49 who played in at least one varsity game, from last year’s squad that finished 7-4 and competed in the ECAC Div. III Northwest Bowl.
Cortland placed third in the conference last season with a 7-2 mark despite losing starting quarterback Dan Pitcher (Cortland) for the year due to injury in the second game. Pitcher and senior defensive lineman Lou Crispo (Eastchester), who played in only three games before missing the rest of the season with an injury, are both team captains for the second straight season. Senior wide receiver Anthony Giuliano (Thornwood/Westlake) and senior defensive lineman Evan Wyler (Warwick/Warwick Valley) are also team captains this fall.
Led by 14th-year head coach Dan MacNeill, Cortland will open preseason camp on Wednesday, August 18. The Red Dragons open the season at Kean on Saturday, Sept. 11, and host Buffalo State on Sept. 18. Cortland’s other home NJAC games are Oct. 9 versus Brockport, Oct. 30 against defending league champion Montclair State and Nov. 6 against William Paterson. Cortland will also host long-time rival and non-league foe Ithaca College on Nov. 13 in the annual Cortaca Jug contest.
Cortland received four of 10 possible first-place votes in the very balanced NJAC Coaches’ poll. Montclair State received three first-place votes and was second in the poll, followed by Kean (two first-place votes), Rowan (one first-place vote) and William Paterson in the top five. Cortland won the NJAC title and advanced to the NCAA Div. III quarterfinals in 2008. The Red Dragons also tied for the top spot in the league three straight years from 2005-07, but were kept from earning the conference’s NCAA automatic berth each of those years due to tiebreakers. In all, Cortland has made six NCAA appearances (1988, 1989, 1990, 1997, 2005, 2008) and nine ECAC championship showings.
2010 New Jersey Athletic Conference Football Preseason Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses)
1. SUNY CORTLAND (4)
2. Montclair St. Univ. (3)
3. Kean Univ. (2)
4. Rowan Univ. (1)
5. William Paterson Univ. (dark horse selection)
6. College at Brockport
7. College of New Jersey
8. Western Connecticut St. Univ.
9. Morrisville St. College
10. Buffalo State