CORTLAND MEN's soccer 2015 TEam Guide 2015 Season Preview In 2014, the Cortland men’s three league titles and a county soccer team produced its best championship. season in more than 20 years. The Red Dragons equaled the school Three midfielders are back record for victories after posting a in 2015, including two starters. 16-5-1 record. The team set a new Senior captain Robby Reiser program mark with six consecutive earned third team All-SUNYAC shutouts that was part of a 12- honors in 2014. Reiser, one of game unbeaten streak and finished four players to start all 22 games, the campaign by tying for ninth finished second in scoring with 19 nationally after winning a pair of points on eight goals and three NCAA Div. III playoff games. assists. Junior Daniel Friend also earned the starting nod in every This season, fourth-year head match last season. Friend totaled coach Steve Axtell brings back 14 12 points on three goals and a players, including six starters. He team-best six assists. Senior Tyler also welcomes 17 newcomers, so Marsh saw the field in 16 games competition will be intense for with one start in 2014, netting a Senior Andrew Troisi. playing time as the team looks to pair of goals on the season. Senior Tyler Marsh. make a return to the postseason. Six players join the program The team will seek a new starting goalkeeper this season after in the midfield. Junior Hauke Nehrhoff comes to Cortland with the graduation of four-year starter Tim Beauvais, who now serves as extensive club experience in Germany. Junior Matt Gordon was a an assistant coach. Junior Joe Brandofino has been with the program two-year member of the soccer team at Sacred Heart University. for two seasons. He posted a shutout in his first career game as Sophomore Kevin Carpenter last played at St. Bonaventure. a freshman and served as a back up in 2014. Sophomore Connor Young was a member of the team last season but did not see game Freshman Michael Miner started two seasons at Shenendehowa action. Freshman Zach Zaia joins the Red Dragons after posting 13 High and helped lead his team to sectional and regional titles as shutouts and earning all-county honors as a senior at Massapequa a senior. Freshman Alex Purcell was a three-year starter at Lansing High. High where he earned all-state honors and helped guide his team to three sectional titles and state final appearances. Freshman Defensively, the Red Dragons welcome back three starters. Anthony Rocchio, who started four seasons at MacArthur, received Senior captain Sean Streb started all 22 games as a junior, his first all-county and All-Long Island honors and helped lead his team to a year with the program. Streb, who earned second team All-SUNYAC county title as a senior. honors, scored 12 points on six goals, including three game-winners. Junior Jack Sumski saw action in all 22 games at central defense with Just two of the eight forwards on the roster are returners. Junior 20 starts after being in the starting lineup 13 times as a freshman. Nick Tata competed in 19 games with 16 starts last season. Tata Junior David Sherman stepped into the starting lineup midway scored 11 points on three goals and five assists. Junior Andre Brown through the season, finishing 2014 with 12 games played and 10 appeared in 16 games with five starts in 2014. starts. Juniors Tyler Kirschner and Marlon Montini as well as freshmen Four other players return on Matt Aprile, Nick Daigle, Andrew Prendergast and Billy Walsh join the back line. Seniors Andrew Troisi the squad up top. Kirschner last played at SUNY Oneonta, while and Jordan Mastronardi look to Montini competed on multiple club teams in Germany. earn more playing time in 2015 after seeing the field in eight and two Aprile started four years at games, respectively, last season. Smithtown West where he earned Junior Connor Brown appeared in all-county and all-state honors seven games with one start as a as a senior and helped guide the sophomore, picking up an assist. squad to three league crowns and Sophomore Drew DeJohn makes a county title. Daigle played three the move to defense from the seasons at Warwick Valley, earning midfield where he played in 12 second team all-state and Section games as a freshman, including a Nine AA Division Two Offensive start against Messiah in the NCAA Player of the Year honors as a Div. III playoffs. senior. Prendergast was named the Class AA Offensive Player of the Newcomers to the team on Year and all-county as a senior at defense include junior Ronald Massapequa High. Walsh started Junior Daniel Friend. Pressley and freshmen Michael four seasons at East Meadow High Dillon, Jerome Goodridge and and was named the conference Matt Hellerman. Pressley won a Player of the Year as a junior and junior college national title at Suffolk Community College. Dillon senior. competed five seasons with the Albertson Soccer Club. Goodridge Senior Jordan Mastronardi. was a three-time ODP state team selection. Hellerman started three seasons at Smithtown West, helping to lead the squad to CORTLAND Coaching Staff Steve Axtell Head Coach Steve Axtell enters his fourth season as Cortland’s men’s soccer head coach in 2015 with an overall record of 36-20-3. He was named the head coach in June 2012 after serving as interim head coach for five months and as an assistant coach for the Red Dragons in 2010 and 2011. He also was a volunteer student assistant coach during the 2007 season. Last season, Axtell guided Cortland to its best national finish since 1993, tying for ninth in the NCAA Div. III playoffs. The team finished as Left to right: Robert Emmett, Per Poulsen, Steve Axtell, E.J. runner-up during both the SUNYAC regular season and at the conference tournament and posted a 16-5-1 record, tying the program mark for wins in a Reutemann, Tim Beauvais, Matthew Akin. Not pictured: season. The Red Dragons set a school record with six consecutive shutouts Darren McCormack. and strung together a 12-game unbeaten streak (11-0-1), while the team’s starting goalkeeper became the program’s all-time leader in shutouts and Per Poulsen saves during the season. Assistant Coach In 2013, Axtell led the Red Dragons to an 11-7-1 record, a second-place The 2015 season is Per Poulsen’s second as an assistant coach on the finish in the SUNYAC regular-season standings and a runner-up showing in Cortland men’s soccer staff. Poulsen earned a bachelor’s degree in business the conference tournament. In 2012, Cortland posted a 9-8-1 record and administration/marketing from Grand View University in 2012. a earned berth in the SUNYAC postseason tournament. The Red Dragons won their opening playoff game before falling in the semifinals to the top While at Grand View, Poulsen was a three-year starter at central seed. defender on the soccer team, earning first team all-conference honors each season. Prior to Grand View, Poulsen received all-conference and all-region A goalkeeper for the Red Dragons for three seasons (2006, 2008-09), accolades at Monroe Community College. Axtell earned All-SUNYAC honors in 2008 and appeared in 39 career games with nine shutouts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in 2008 A native of Losning, Denmark, Poulsen competed with several club and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in exercise science. soccer teams in his home country. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Cortland. A native of Franklin, N.Y., Axtell holds a Premier Diploma and an Ad- vanced National Goalkeeping Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) with Distinguished Pass. He was appointed Tim Beauvais to the NSCAA National Staff, which makes him both a National Staff Assistant Coach member as well as Associate National Goalkeeping Staff for the NSCAA. He teaches NSCAA coaching courses throughout the Northeast and directs the Tim Beauvais joins the Cortland men’s soccer coaching staff in 2015 Goalkeeper College ID Camps at the University of Connecticut during the after a stellar four-year career with the Red Dragons. summer. Beauvais, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Axtell also is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and has the College in May, 2015, finished his career as the program’s all-time leader received a conditioning for soccer diploma from the International Coaches with 337 saves and 24 shutouts and holds the school record with six consec- Association. He is the founder and director of the OnePlus Soccer Acad- utive shutouts. A two-time first team All-SUNYAC selection and first team emy in Ithaca, N.Y., which features teams ranging from U8 to U18, residential all-region and All-Upstate New York honoree as a senior, Beauvais posted a camps and clinics. The Academy does the training for various soccer clubs 36-24-5 record in 65 career games. in the area, has a goalkeeping academy and conducts coaching education clinics throughout the year. Part of the organization is a non-profit club that Robert Emmett holds grassroots programs for young players at no cost throughout New Assistant Coach York state. The 2015 season is Robert Emmett’s first as an assistant coach for the Besides assisting with both the men’s and women’s soccer programs at Red Dragon men’s soccer program after competing on the Cortland men’s Cortland, Axtell has served as the head coach of the Central Region scho- soccer team as a goalkeeper for four seasons.