Senior forward Danielle Smith (Verona, NY) played a part in every goal scored and junior Amber Comeau (Medford, MA) netted her second straight game-winner in the 76th minute as the Utica College women's soccer team defeated visiting Elmira College 3-2 in Empire 8 Conference play Wednesday afternoon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. As the thunderstorms threatened in the Utica sky, Elmira mounted a comeback after falling behind 2-0 early, and knotted the score up at 2-2 with 21:19 left in regulation.  But Smith and Comeau returned from a quick breather off the bench and connected at the 76:07 mark to give the Pioneers a lead they would not relinquish.

The Pioneers have now won two straight and evened its record at .500, 3-3, for the first time this season.  They are now 2-1 in conference play with their only loss coming at the hands of Hartwick in a double overtime thriller last Wednesday at Gaetano.  UC has now won four straight against Elmira and they have outscored the Soaring Eagles by a combined score of 10-3 dating back to 2006. 

Elmira has not lost two in a row all season until Wednesday and they dropped to 3-4 overall. 

Smith opened the scoring on the day when she netted a penalty kick into the lower left corner after she was taken down from behind in the box attempting a breakaway just 12 minutes into the contest.  8:33 later Smith netted her team-best fourth goal of the season after Jill Benoit (Liverpool, NY) sent the ball into the box and Comeau headed it right to Smith. Smith then rocketed a shot into the top right corner past Elmira goalie Karissa Wilson (Londonberry, NH) to give UC a commanding 2-0 lead. 

As the Pioneers began to empty out their bench Elmira decided they would not go down with out a fight, netting two goals in the second half.  The Soaring Eagles first goal of the second half came from Rachel Bromson (Suffield, CT), her team-best seventh goal of the season, after a beautiful lead pass from Danielle Corjulo (Southington, CT) at the 40:50 mark.  Just under 28 minutes later, with Elmira controlling the majority of possession time, Kristyn O'Rouke (Beaver Dams, NY) finally scored the equalizer in the lower right corner past UC goalie Monique Schneeberger (Lowville, NY) to tie the score at 2-2.

Luckily for UC, Comeau and Smith were rested perfectly by Head Coach Claire McLain and with in one minute of them coming back off the bench the Pioneers had scored the game-winner. 

Schneeberger stopped four shots in 90 minutes of work to earn the victory for UC, while Wilson made two saves in the loss for EC. 

The Pioneers return to action Saturday when they travel to regional power University of Rochester to take on the Yellowjackets at Fauver Stadium.  The non conference contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

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