CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland women's soccer team jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and held on for a 3-2 victory over Plattsburgh to claim the 2025 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title on Saturday afternoon on Holloway Field. Cortland improves to 14-2-4 with its fifth consecutive victory. Plattsburgh finishes the season with a 10-7-2 record.
 
Cortland clinched an automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III playoffs with the victory. The NCAA Selection Show will take place at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 10 on NCAA.com.
 
Tournament MVP Gianna Cirilla (Pattersonville/Schalmont) scored a pair of goals and added an assist for the Red Dragons. Julia DeTurris (Hicksville) tallied the other Cortland goal, while Katie Diem (Fairport), Tyla Vuotto (Lynbrook), and Piper Klammer (Mahopac) each tallied an assist.
 
Diem, Klammer, and Dana Scruggs (Bethpage) joined Cirilla on the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team.
 
Olivia Rouse (Springfield, VA/West Springfield) made five saves in goal for the Red Dragons.
 
Bailee Lafountain and Jadyn Baker each scored a goal for Plattsburgh. Desiree DuBois made five saves in goal for the Cardinals. Sydney Myers, Lafountain, and Kelly Licata were selected to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team.
 
Cortland opened the scoring just 71 seconds into the contest. Cirilla dribbled down the left side towards the endline, before dropping a pass back to DeTurris. DeTurris then curled a shot into the top right corner of net to give the Red Dragons an early lead.
 
The Red Dragons doubled their lead in the 10th minute following a foul by the Cardinals. Diem took the free kick from near midfield and lofted a cross towards the middle of the Plattsburgh 18-yard area, where Vuotto headed the ball down and Cirilla quickly flipped a shot into the top corner of the net.
 
Plattsburgh had an opportunity to cut into the Cortland lead in the 40th minute, but Diem made a strong interception to clear the ball from an attacker, as Cortland held its two-goal advantage into halftime.
 
Cortland had a golden opportunity to make it 3-0 in the 59th minute when Vuotto found herself in the middle of the 18-yard area, but Plattsburgh's Mariah Nowicki made a sliding tackle to block the shot by Vuotto.
 
Cirilla scored her second goal of the game in the 64th minute to give the Red Dragons a three-goal lead, knocking home a rebound after Klammer had dribbled through multiple Plattsburgh defenders and had a shot stopped by a diving save from DuBois.
 
The Cardinals scored twice in the span of 43 seconds to pull to within a goal in the 76th minute. Off a corner kick from Leah Warren, Lafountain was able to knock a shot into the top corner of the goal. The Plattsburgh tally also ended Cortland's school-record streak of 1,359:12 of game action without conceding a goal. Just seconds later, Warren sent a cross from the right side to the middle of the Cortland 18-yard area, where a failed clearance by the Cortland defense gave the ball to Baker, who flipped a shot into the goal to make it 3-2.
 
After the shock of allowing two goals in a minute, the Cortland defense was able to regroup and held Plattsburgh without a shot on goal for the rest of the game to secure the fourth SUNYAC title for head coach Heidi Axtell, and the second championship in the last three seasons.

Following the contest, Katie Diem was presented with the SUNYAC Elite 20 award for women's soccer that honors the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the championship finals site. Diem is a biology major with a 4.0 GPA (pictured with SUNYAC Associate Commissioner Megan Cross).

All-Tournament Team (pictured are Cortland and Plattsburgh's recipients):

Olivia Kilmer (Buffalo State)

Addy Williams (Buffalo State)

Casey Fetzner (Fredonia)

Bronwyn Madden (Fredonia)

Bailee Lafountain (Plattsburgh)

Kelly Licata (Plattsburgh)

Sydney Myers (Plattsburgh)

Katie Diem (Cortland)

Piper Klammer (Cortland)

Dana Scruggs (Cortland)

Gianna Cirilla (Cortland) - MVP