CORTLAND, N.Y. - The nationally ninth-ranked Cortland field hockey team opened up a 3-0 lead at halftime and went on to a 4-1 win versus Elmira Tuesday afternoon at the Stadium Complex. The Red Dragons improved to 3-0 on the season, while the Soaring Eagles fell to 0-2 with the setback.

Junior Brenda Semit (Holland Patent) led Cortland with a goal and an assist, and three Red Dragons scored her first career goal -- freshmen Liz DeWaters (Lockport/Royalton-Hartland), Sam George (Arcade/Pioneer) and Samantha Wong (Massapequa). Sophomore Kristin McGurl (Poughkeepsie/Arlington) and freshman Sara Woodward (Pine Plains) each recorded an assist. Junior goalie Ashley Hughes (Selden/Comsewogue) stopped three shots in 62 minutes, 13 seconds, before giving way to freshman Emily von Schondorf (Webster/Webster Thomas), who made two saves over the final 7:47 in her first collegiate action.

Senior Deanna Henson (Carmel) tallied Elmira's goal, while senior Myriah Fitterer (Ithaca) registered a defensive save. Senior goalkeeper Jalene McCulloch (Belleville, ON/Millbrook) recorded 16 saves.

DeWaters opened the scoring at the 3:52 mark when she scored off Woodward's pass on a scramble in front. George upped the lead to 2-0 as she knocked in a rebound after a penalty corner at 27:10. Three and a half minutes later, McGurl fed a penalty corner pass to Semit at the top of the arc, who ripped a low, hard shot past McCulloch for her second goal of the season.

In the second half, Wong made it a 4-0 game at 57:51. Semit sent a long ball into the arc, where Wong ran onto the pass and tucked a shot inside the right post as she broke in alone on McCulloch. Less than five minutes later, the Soaring Eagles broke up the shutout bid with a three-shot flurry that ended in Henson's rebound goal. Hughes denied junior Megan Werner's (Vestal) first shot on a penalty corner with the ball caroming off the crossbar and back into play. Henson fired two shots in close after the rebound and scored on the second after Hughes made the first save.

Cortland outshot Elmira, 29-7, and held a 13-4 advantage in penalty corners.

Cortland 4, Elmira 1

Scoring (Goals-Assists)
Elmira: Deanna Henson 1-0
Cortland: Brenda Semit 1-1, Liz DeWaters 1-0, Sam George 1-0, Samantha Wong 1-0, Sara Woodward 0-1, Kristin McGurl 0-1

Halftime: Cortland 3, Elmira 0
Shots: Cortland 29, Elmira 7
Penalty Corners: Cortland 13, Elmira 4
Saves: Jalene McCulloch (Elmira) 16 (4 GA in 70:00); Ashley Hughes (Cortland) 3 (1 GA in 62:13), Emily von Schondorf (Cortland) 2 (0 GA in 7:47)

Record after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 3-0 (ranked 9th in Div. III); Elmira (Soaring Eagles) 0-2