The Utica College women's hockey team opened up regular season play Saturday with a 10-0 victory over Castleton State College, at Spartan Arena, Rutland VT. UC starts off 1-0, while the Spartans fall to 0-1. Senior forward Darcy Hier (Centennial, CO/Colorado Selects) led the Pioneers with five points, including four assists and one goal.

The Pioneers opened up scoring late in the first period at 17:20, when Tiffany Bichrest (Harpswell, ME/Hebron Academy) deflected a shot from Hier, on a power-play, to give Utica a 1-0 lead.

UC put the game out of reach in the second period after scoring five goals. After another Spartan penalty at 2:07, Hier cashed in on the power-play, tallying the first goal of her senior campaign at 2:35. Freshmen Vanessa Maines (Boxborough, MA/Boston Jr. Shamrocks) made the score 3-0, at 7:03, when she put back a rebound in front of the net for her first collegiate goal.

The Pioneers would capitalize on another man down situation at 11:21, when freshmen Megan Myers (Las Vegas, NV/LA Selects) netted her first of three goals. The Pioneers were 3-5 (.600) on power-play. Seniors Lynny Gonzales (Rochester, NY/New Hampton Prep) and Megan Sudik registered their first goals of the season, at 17:07 and 18:48, to conclude the second period.

In the third period, Utica continued the surge by adding four more goals. At 1:47, sophomore Meghan McMahon (Gardner, MA/St. Marks (MA)) made it 7-0 off feeds from Vanessa Maines (Boxborough, MA/Boston Jr. Shamrocks) and Samantha Glockling (Carleton Place, ONT/Tilton School). After almost ten minutes of no scoring, UC notched three more goals to end the contest. Freshmen Meredith Tice (Hershey, PA/Washington Pride) recorded her first collegiate goal, at 11:28, off assists from Carmen Johnson (Falls Church, VA/Washington Pride) and Tiffany Bichrest (Harpswell, ME/Hebron Academy). Myers completed her hat trick with back to back goals at 13:06 and 16:26.

Starting goalkeeper Jennifer Hamel (Ithaca, NY/Northwood School), a freshmen, recorded 10 saves in 31:21 to get her first collegiate win. Junior Marissa Hotaling (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) registered 16 saves in 28:39 of action.

The Pioneers return to action Friday and Saturday as they travel to Buffalo, NY to open up ECAC Women's West Conference play against Buffalo State. Friday's game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and Saturday's is set to begin at 4 p.m. The Bengals are currently 1-1 overall after losing to Castleton State 3-2.

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