UTICA, NY – The Utica College women's hockey team lost to nationally-ranked No. 7 Elmira College 5-0 Saturday night in ECAC Women's West action at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Jamie Huntley (La Jolla, Ca/California Selects) netted a hat-trick to pace Elmira, while Allison Cubberly (Bracebridge, ONT/Clearview Stars) played lights out in net to earn her seventh victory of the season.

The Pioneers dropped to 10-7 overall and 6-3 in conference play, while the Soaring Eagles improved to 13-3 overall and 8-1 in ECAC West action. Elmira out shot UC 34-26 on the evening and the Soaring Eagles also earned a 37-27 face off advantage. Elmira now owns a 15-2-1 all-time series advantage over the Pioneers.

UC entered Saturday's contest riding the highs of a three-game winning streak, including a sweep of conference foe Buffalo State last weekend.

The Soaring Eagles opened the scoring 14:54 into the first period when Amanda Ritzel (Spencerport, NY/Toronto Rattlers) skated behind the net and found a streaking Huntley in front. Huntley one-timed the power-play goal past UC goalie Jill Doherty (Wellesley, MA/Kents Hill) lower left to give Elmira a 1-0 lead. Huntley, a junior forward, notched her third goal of the season, while Ritzel tallied her seventh assist.

EC took a 2-0 lead 4:50 into the second stanza, when Huntley followed her own shot and squeaked a rebound goal, her second of the game and fourth of the season, past Doherty top right corner. Ritzel was credited with the assist, marking the second time in the contest she connected with Huntley.

Huntley completed the hat-trick and gave Elmira a 3-0 lead with just over four minutes left in the contest when she skated in all alone and beat Doherty far side. Farren Hart (Perth, ONT/Clearview Stars Mid) and sophomore Karen Colehour (Schenectady, NY/Albany Ice Cats) were credited with assists on the goal.

Elmira netted two more insurance goals with less than two minutes remaining in the game to seal the victory. Senior forward Tory MacNeil (Massey, ONT/Middlebury) netted her third goal of the season, while sophomore forward Melanie Henshaw (Margate, FL/ North American Hockey Academy) added her twelfth goal of the season.

Doherty, a sophomore, made 27 stops on the evening, while her counterpart, junior Allison Cubberly stopped all 26 shots and earned her third shut out of the season.

UC completes the two-game weekend set against the Soaring Eagles Sunday at the Aud. The puck is scheduled to drop at 3 p.m.