REXFORD, N.Y. – The Cortland women's golf team won its third straight Northeast Women's Golf Conference (NWGC) Championship and earned the program's first NCAA Division III championship team berth with a dominating showing at the two-day conference championship, which was held Saturday and Sunday at The Edison Club. 
 
Cortland's five golfers claimed the top five spots in the team standings, led by tournament medalist Paige Cerminaro (Howell, NJ), to win the team title with a final score of 648. The Red Dragons carded a 328 on Saturday and a 320 on Sunday and finished 103 strokes ahead of runner-up Suffolk University and 106 strokes better than third-place Nazareth. A total of seven schools posted complete team scores, with three other schools featuring individual golfers only. 
 
The NWGC champion qualified for an NCAA automatic berth for the first time this spring. Cortland will compete at the national championship tournament May 10-13 at the Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas. 
 
Cerminaro won the tournament with a two-day score of 157. She posted a 79 on Saturday and a 78 on Sunday on the par-72 layout. Claudia Winterberg (Harrisburg, NC/Hickory Ridge) finished second with a 162 (84-78), Alivia Waldron (Saranac) was third with a 166 (85-81), Amanda Gaffney (Williamsville/Williamsville East) place fourth with a 171 (88-83), and Sophie Oristian (Gaithersburg, MD/Quince Orchard) tied for fifth place, along with Sydney Bardsley of Manhattanville, with a 172 (80-92). 
 
The top five golfers were named to the NWGC all-conference first team, while the sixth through 10th finishers earned second-team all-league honors. All five of Cortland's competitors were first-team all-league by virtue of their top-five showings, and Cerminaro was named both the league's Golfer of the Year and Rookie of the Year by winning the league crown. 
 
Cerminaro and Oristian each posted two birdies during their 36 holes of competition. Winterberg led the tournament with 21 pars, followed by Cerminaro with 20 and Waldron and Gaffney with 15 each. 
 
In all, Cortland women's golf has now won five straight league titles - three in the NWGC (fall of 2019 and spring of 2021 in addition to this year) along with Empire 8 crowns in 2017 and 2018, before that league disbanded. Many of those Empire 8 teams are now part of the NWGC.


NORTHEAST WOMEN'S GOLF CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP (April 23-24, 2022)
The Edison Club; Rexford, N.Y. 
(par 72 each day)

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

Place, School                  Day 1 - Day 2 - Total Score

1) Cortland                       328-320-648 
2) Suffolk                          365-386-751 
3) Nazareth                      376-378-754 
4) Husson                         395-373-768 
5) Utica                             434-420-854 
6) Keuka                           556-544-1100 
7) Westfield St.                581-540-1121 
 
INDIVIDUAL SCORES (TOP 10)
(top 10 are all-conference; places 1-5 are first team, places 6-10 are second team)

Place, Name (School)                                 Day 1 - Day 2 - Total

1) Paige Cerminaro (Cortland)                      79-78-157 
2) Claudia Winterberg (Cortland)                  84-78-162 
3) Alivia Waldron (Cortland)                          85-81-166 
4) Amanda Gaffney (Cortland)                      88-83-171 
tie 5) Sophie Oristian (Cortland)                    80-92-172 
 
tie 5) * Sydney Bardsley (Manhattanville)     82-90-172 
7) Ellie Yarbrough (Suffolk)                             88-88-176 
8) Isabel Smith (Suffolk)                                  85-95-180 
tie 9) * Emma Pyrak (St. John Fisher)           86-95-181 
tie 9) Lindsay Cote (Husson)                          94-87-181 
 
* individual entry 
 
(36 golfers competed)