Cortland Senior midfielder, Joshua Anecelle getting ready to cross the ball.
Last night the Cortland Purple Tigers obtained their first win of the season, after defeating the Auburn Maroons (5-1) at home.
For around the first 20 minutes of the first half, the Tigers started out slow, as they seemed to be trying to find their rhythm.
After that, however, the Tigers started being aggressive by pressing Auburn on their own side of the field, getting crosses in and taking advantage of open spaces go get shots in.
Then the first goal of the game came by Cortland's junior midfielder, Alexander Musci after getting the ball to his feet from an incredible cross from sophomore midfielder, Nicholas Yonta; and shooting the ball from outside of the box into the top right corner with 14:28 minutes left in the first half.
After halftime, the Tigers went on to completely dominate the rest of the game.
"The first half, it took us a long time to get used to it," said Cortland head coach, Luke Schweider. "We didn't play our game. We were playing down to their level. Then in the second half, we came out confident with fire under us."
Then five minutes into the second half, Auburn committed a hand ball inside their box area, resulting in a penalty kick for the Tigers where senior forward, Nickolas Litzenberger stepped forward to take the kick and make it 2-0.
Litzenberger had a total of two goals throughout the game, with him also scoring off a rebound to make it 3-0 after Auburn goalkeeper Colson Nemo stopped a shot from Cortland midfielder, Caleb Marsh.
With Cortland controlling the game, all Auburn could do is settle for quick counter attacks that were mostly ineffective.
However, one of them was successful with Auburn's Ethan Trupiano assisting Miron Carter off a pass from midfield for Trupiano to put the ball behind the net and make it 3-1 with 14:28 minutes left in the game.
Shortly after the Tigers scored two more goals to finish off the Maroons. One of them coming off a corner perfectly placed by junior forward, Matthew Meagley for fellow junior defender, Henry Jacob Storch place the ball on the back of the net. Then another one from senior midfielder, Martin Monroe off an assist from Marsh with 4:29 minutes left to go.
"We just wanted to get out there and be aggressive," said coach Schweider. "We usually try to knock it back and set up our shape, but today we just wanted to score right away by knocking the ball up and pressing. The last few practices we worked a lot on pressing and attacking high up the field and it worked. I hope this builds up their confidence for the rest of the week."
The Tigers will travel to face Central Square at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 12th.
Cortland fans congratulating the team after getting a win (Camilo Fredes/Cortland Voice).
