Utica, NY – The Utica College women's ice hockey team will take on nationally-ranked No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology in the semi-finals of the ECAC Women's West Conference Tournament Saturday. The game will be held at the Frank Ritter Memorial Arena, in Rochester, NY and face-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. The No. 6 seeded Pioneers are 13-13 overall and finished with an 8-10 regular season mark in the ECAC Women's West Conference, while the host Tigers hold a 21-1-2 overall record and concluded conference play with a 15-1-2 ledger during the regular season.

UC snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday when it upset nationally-ranked No. 9 Elmira, 2-1, in the opening round of the conference tournament. Prior to last weekend's game, Utica was 0-6 against the Soaring Eagles and had not beat Elmira since Jan. 27, 2008,

This season, RIT and UC squared off at the Utica Memorial Auditorium for a weekend set back on Nov. 13 and 14 and the Tigers won 5-2 and 4-1. The Pioneers last beat RIT back on Feb. 2, 2008, 5-4, at Ritter Arena. Since joining the conference in 2007-2008, the Tigers hold a 7-1 record against the Pioneers.

UC is led by freshman stand-out Megan Myers (Las Vegas, NV/LA Selects) who currently is seventh in the nation in goals (21) and fourth in points per game among rookies (33). Myers has netted UC's last four goals and has tallied seven goals over the course of the last four games, including her third hat-trick during a 6-5 loss to defending National Champion Amherst on Feb. 17. She is second in the conference averaging .72 goals per conference contest.

Senior line-mate Darcy Hier (Centennial, CO/Colorado Selects) accompanies Myers at the wing and is presently sixth in the nation in assists (23) averaging .88 per contest. Hier is fifth in the conference compiling 15 assists in 18 ECAC West games. She has eight multi-point games this season, including a recent hat-trick on Feb. 13 and her stellar six-point performance in the season-opener.

Junior goalie Marissa Hotaling (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), recently coming off a career-high 52 save performance, has recorded a 93.2 save percentage, saving 599 of 643 shots in 19 games. She ranks seventh in the conference with a 92.2 save percentage in conference play and eighth with a 2.85 goal against average.

With a win, the Pioneers would advance to the ECAC Women's West Conference Championship on Sunday, Mar. 6. UC would play the winner of the No. 2 Plattsburgh State and No. 4 Neumann University game at 7 p.m.