#3 Cougars Edge Cortland

The nationally ranked Misericordia women's team recorded a 3-2 win over Cortland, Wednesday night.

Misericordia, the number three team in the country, fell behind for the first time this season when the Red Dragons converted a corner kick less than three minutes into the game.

The Cougars retaliated 20-seconds later when Olivia Maniskas buried a deflection inside the left post.  Alyssa Steenback outran a defender and carried the ball into the right side of the box and served a ball that was deflected by the keeper to Maniskas who shot into the bottom left corner to even the score, 1-1.

Lily Heistand came close to scoring the Cougars second goal off a feed from Sweitzer, but her shot near the left post was denied in the 18th minute.

Sweitzer did give MU the lead when she buried a rebound off Esa Mendola shot in front for a 2-1 lead at 30:11.

Jyanna Mendola tallied a pair of shots on goal from distance with the first glancing off crossbar and the second being saved in the upper left corner and the Cougars took a 2-1 lead into halftime.

Steenback recorded a much-needed insurance goal for the Cougars with an assist from Sweitzer early in the second half.  Sweitzer rolled a pass across the box from the right post and Steenback tapped it in for a 3-1 lead at 51:01.

Cortland responded 13 minutes later to cut MU's lead to 3-2.

The Cougars threatened throughout the remainder of the half with Sabrina Competiello getting two shots on goal that were denied.

Madeline Davies and Madison Brdaric attempted to lengthen the Cougars lead with back-to-back shots in the 84th minute.  Davies' initial shot struck the crossbar and Brdaric chipped the rebound just over the bar.