UTICA, NY - The Utica College women's lacrosse team fell to the Elmira College 16-11 in Empire 8 Conference action Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

With the win Elmira improves to 5-8 overall and 2-5 in the E8, while the Pioneers dropped 4-9 overall and 2-5 in conference.

Saturday's contest marked the final home game of the season for the Pioneers and senior's Kerri Weber (Medford, NY/Patchogue-Medford) and Annie Thiel (Hamden, CT/Hamden) were both honored. Weber, a defensemen turned attacker, scored three goals on senior day giving her eight goals for the season.

The Pioneer's got on the scoreboard when Laura Keating (Whitesboro, NY/Horseheads) slipped a goal past Elmira goalie Jalene McCulloch (Belleville, ONT/Millbrook) at 26:10 of the first half. Keating, a junior, is ranked second in Pioneer goals with 20 this season. Sophomore midfielder Jackie Vicencio (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) scored an unassisted goal at 22:29. She has fifteen goals on the year.

Other first half Pioneer goals were scored by junior midfielder Casey Pelletier (Middletown, CT/Mercy) and freshman attacker Jill Doherty (Wellesley, MA/Kents Hill).

Elmira went on a two goal run starting at 19:01 of the first half when freshman midfielder Perry Markell (Portsmouth, RI/ Portsmouth Abbey) found the back of the net, then sophomore attacker Kristen Leonardi (Morganville, NJ/St. John Vianney) beat UC goalie Jessica LeClerc (Augusta, ME/Deerfield Academy) at 16:54 to tie the game at 2-2. Senior midfielder Stephanie Walker (Corning/Corning East) scored three first half goals while senior midfielder Katya Outwater (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony) scored one. Walker later assisted sophomore attacker Sarah Young's (Hampton,NY/ North Hunterdon) goal with 5:09 left in the first half.

Elmira was out shot 14-10 in the first half but took a 7-5 lead into half time.

Elmira started off second half scoring when Young slid an unassisted goal past LeClerc. LeClerc surpassed 100 saves today for a team high 102 saves this season.

Outwater continued the scoring for Elmira at 23:12, when she scored a goal off the free position. Elmira then went on a three-goal run when Markell scored twice and senior midfielder Jess Zegarelli (Clinton/Clinton) was left alone in front of the net for the third goal.

Utica started off their second half scoring when Keating scored her second goal of the day off the free position. Keating later tallied another goal at 11:59. Utica went on a three-goal run when Pelletier found the back of the net off the free position at 18:09 in the second half. Later, Weber and Vicencio both got second half goals to cut Elmira's lead to 12-10. Vicencio later scored again at 2:21 off an assist from Kelly Regan (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa).

Senior midfielder Outwater scored with 4:33 left in the second while Markell continued her run to score her fourth goal of the game a few minutes later. Markell, a freshman, scored five goals in the game. Sophomore attacker Lauren Mokes (Morganville, NJ/ St. John Vianney) scored the final goal of the game off an assist from junior midfielder Mary-Kate Geratowski (Wilder, VT/Hartford) with 49 seconds left.

The Utica College women's lacrosse team takes on host Clarkson University at 4:30 p.m on May 27th.
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