The Utica College men's soccer team advanced to its third Empire 8 Conference tournament in four years over the weekend. UC received the fourth seed in the tournament and the Pioneers will face top-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology Friday at 5 p.m. in Hoboken, N.J.
Utica lost to 17th ranked Stevens, 4-1, but hung on to fourth place in the regular season conference standings to earn the fourth and final spot in the coveted conference tournament. The Pioneers now have their sights set on winning their first Empire 8 Conference title in program-history. UC is the only team this season to score against the Ducks on their home turf and the Pioneers hope to build on that as they travel to Hoboken for the second time this week.
“Stevens scored three world class goals in our first match up last weekend. We have to make a few tactical adjustments to have an opportunity to gain the result this Friday,” says second-year Head Coach Joe Calabrese. “Stevens is one of the best possession teams in the country. As a team we believe we have to compact the field both vertically and horizontally defensively to disrupt their possession of the ball. It is imperative all 11 players on the field defend at 100% for 90 minutes.”
During the regular season Utica ranked third in the nation in scoring offense with 54 goals and averaged a staggering 3.18 goals per game. UC also recorded the 67th best overall record in the nation out of 377 Division III institutions.
The Pioneers closed out the regular season with a program-best 12-5-1 overall record and a 3-3-1 mark in conference play. UC's five losses came against teams that posted a combined record of 54-15-13. UC dropped their first game of the season, only to go on a seven game winning streak to get back on track, scoring 29 goals while giving up just eight in that span. They then came up short against Nazareth (L, 2-3), RIT (T, 1-1), and Elmira (L, 2-4) in conference play but rebounded quickly with wins against Ithaca College (W, 1-0) and St. John Fisher (W, 3-0).
“The 2010 season has been a great success for our soccer program. On the soccer field our primary objective is to establish ourselves as one of the top teams in the east region and the Empire 8 conference,” says Calabrese. “This season has certainly proven we're headed in the right direction.”
The Pioneers are led by senior #Roberto Sgueglia3 who ranked fifth in the nation in assists (12) and 10th overall averaging 2.12 points per game. His 36 points in the regular season was a team-high and broke the program's single season scoring record. Freshman forward
Jonathon Peterson (Bedford, NH/New Hampton) has also been a major contributor this season after totaling 20 points. Another key player in the Pioneers first 17 games was freshmen forward
Trevor Hoxsie (Scarborough, ME/Scarborough) who scored eight goals and added four assists for a total of 20 points. Senior forward
David Garcia (Fairport, NY/Fairport) had a career-best six goals and two assists, while
Jonathan Wood (Derry, NH/Pinkerton) came on strong at the end of the season with five goals and two assists.
On the defensive side, junior defender
Shane Wittemann (Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem North) started all 17 games this season, which makes him the only player on the team to start every game over the course of the past two seasons.
In the other semi-final game Nazareth will host Elmira on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and the winner will face either Utica or Stevens on Sunday at the highest remaining seed. If UC defeats Stevens the Pioneers will be on the road again at Nazareth or Elmira on Sunday.
--- www.ucpioneers.com ---
