As many of you know we were given our first loss of the season to Ithaca.  This may sound a little familiar because around this time last year we lost in overtime on Ithaca's field.  After that we continued through the regular season without another loss.  We then saw Ithaca in the NCAA's and beat them. Again this year they have a good squad and played a great game against us.  I'm sure we're going to see them again. 

One way you can identify the strength of a team is by their response to a loss.  Our response to this loss was a big week consisting of two wins.  On Wednesday we beat Nazareth 17-10 and on Saturday we beat RIT 11-6.  Both of these games were important for us coming off of the loss.  This week we have one game, which is home on Saturday, against Potsdam at 1pm.        

At this time in Cortland we are experiencing some changes in the weather.  The temperature is moving out of the 20's and 30's and into the 40's and 50's.  This is awesome.   It is especially nice to be playing lax in some nice weather.  It also seems to be a time where people are catching the bug.  I have experienced this myself this past week.  Although these beautiful temperatures feel like Florida to us sometimes, they aren't and you can't walk around in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops all day.  Another great thing to do is to keep an emergen-c packet in your back pocket.  Stay golden.

On Wednesday morning we left for Syracuse Airport for our 6am flight to Orlando, Florida.  After some great jetting with jetBlue we were in the 85 degrees in no time.  It was sunny and in the 80's every day we were down there.  We couldn't have asked for better weather to lax in.  We practiced once or twice a day and on Thursday we were able to visit the incredible Daytona Beach.  For many of us it was our first time experiencing Daytona Beach.  Cars, motorcycles, and trucks were all able to just drive right on the beach and hang out.  The sand on the beach was so compacted; it felt like you were walking on pavement.  On Friday we had a great practice and rested the legs for the rest of the day.  At this point we were focused on what we went down to Florida to do.

Saturday morning we strapped up to play Clarkson at 1pm, it was a hot one.  We started out a little slow and Clarkson had the lead in the first quarter.  Second quarter we came out firing and went up by the half.  The second half was a battle but by the end we pulled out the win with a score of 13-11.  Our Florida trip was complete.  We got the win and headed home on Sunday afternoon. 

Our next game is one of our biggest of the season.  It is against Ithaca College, who beat us during our regular season last year.  As many of you know it is always a big rivalry between Ithaca and Cortland.  This is a big part of what makes this game so important.  The game is here at Cortland where both teams go into the game undefeated.  See you Saturday at 1pm in the Stadium. 

This past week was extremely big for us Red Dragons. We had our first two-game week, with one of them being home and the other on Long Island.  On Wednesday we played Montclair State, which was our first home game.  We got our second victory of the season with a score of 16-4.  On Saturday we had one of the biggest games of our season.  We played a quality Gettysburg squad at Burns Park, in Massapequa, in front of an estimated 1,000 people.  Just to give you an idea of this crowd, there were 3 or 4 sections of stands filled with people while the rest of the people were all around the field along the fences.  It was a very tight fit for the spectators.  The game itself was a great one with the first half ending in a score of 5-5.  In the second half we turned on the jets and started to pull away.  We played a great game and got the win with a score of 14-8.

After the game we had a great tailgate, sponsored by our awesome alumni.  They really did a great job.  It was really nice to see everyone that came out to watch us play.  A few other guys and myself were able to spend a little more time back home.  I was extremely excited for this because my mom made an extra big pot of sauce for our pasta Sunday dinner at my nanas.  It was a great trip to the Island.

This week we are leaving for our spring break trip to Florida.  We will be playing Clarkson in Sanford at 1pm.  Tomorrow we are leaving on a 6am flight to Orlando.  We are looking forward to a great week.  Talk to you soon.                   

At 8:30 on Saturday morning we departed from the Cortland State campus.  There is just something about game day that is so great; everyone is so focused on the event about to take place.  Although it was 8:30am in the morning, I had my game face on.  We put on the movie "The Dark Night" but the speakers cut out.  It really didn't matter because after some egg sandwiches and fresh fruit most of the team got a little pre game nap in.  The night before I found the best deal I have ever come across.  I bought a vibrating memory foam neck pillow from Wall-Mart for only $10.  I recommend everyone who travels to purchase one of these incredible devices.  Anyway, after a smooth four hour bus ride we arrived at John Jay High School. 

In the beginning of the game we started off with two quick goals which really got us rolling.  The first one was scored by our freshmen attackman Mike Tota and the other was from my roommate Jay Distefano.  It was a battle throughout the 1^st half but after half time we started to open it up and pull away.  Our hard work in practice paid off by giving us the boost we needed to pull out a 15-7 win over Western New England College.  After the game we tailgated and then hit the road back to Cortland.  This time we watched "Step Brothers" and "Tommy Boy," which completed the trip.  The speakers were working this time. 

This week we have two games, Wednesday we are home and then on Saturday we are playing back on the Island.  We are playing Montclair State on Wednesday at 3:30pm on our home turf.  We then get to travel down to Long Island on Friday for our Saturday game against Gettysburg.  We will be playing Gettysburg at Burns Park in Massapequa at 1pm.  This is an extremely big game for our team and it is also nice for many of us from the Island that get to play in front of their family, friends, and supporters.  We are very grateful to have such a great Alumni association that takes pride in our athletics.  They will be sponsoring a tailgate for our team starting at 11am.  This will be an incredible event for all of us and we are all really looking forward to it.