UTICA, NY (3/27/12) – The Utica College men's lacrosse team will host conference rival Nazareth College at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28 at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The contest will open conference play in the Empire 8 for both squads.
Pioneer Push: The Pioneers are tied in second place with Ithaca College in the overall standings at 5-2, behind leader Stevens who presently holds a 7-1 record … UC has already doubled the number of wins they earned last year (2-13), with nine games remaining … The Pioneers have outscored their opponents 74-46 while out shooting them 232-162.
UC vs. Naz: The Pioneers have struggled against the Golden Flyers (3-4) over the last three seasons losing by an average of 14 goals per contest … The last time UC defeated Nazareth was back on March 26, 2008 when Utica won 11-9 … Nazareth is coming off a 8-13 loss against Amherst, while Utica is coming off a sudden death victory over King's, 9-8.
Mick D'Stick: Senior defender
Mick Krajacic (Clay, NY/Cicero North Syracuse) earned himself Athlete of the Week honors for Utica College after his stellar performance against King's … Krajacic won seven face-offs, caused seven turnovers and scooped up eight ground balls as well as adding his first goal of the season … He is a brick wall defender that leads the team with 26 caused turnovers and ranks third in the E8 with an average of 5.29 ground balls per contest.
Turn on the Winkler, He's on Fire: Junior
Ben Winkler (Rodman, NY/IHC) leads the team with 27 points including a team high 23 goals and four assists … Winkler added two of his assists in last weekend's game against King's.
Mr. Clutch Edelstein: Junior
Justin Edelstein (Hartsdale, NY/Harvey School) netted his second game-winning goal of the season in the King's nail-biter … Edelstein sits in fourth on the team with 10 points of which nine are goals, tying
Trent Thomas (Akwesasne, ONT/Massena) for the second most on the team.
New Guy Thrives: Junior transfer,
Trent Thomas (Akwesasne, ONT/Massena), has been a great addition to the Pioneer offense as he is second in points on the squad with 18 … Thomas also issecond in goals and assists with nine each.
Between the Pipes: Senior's
Joe Davis (Vestal, NY/Vestal) and
Wilson Mukrdechian (Watertown, NY/Watertown) complete the two headed monster in goal for UC … Davis, in his four games played, totaled 36 saves with a .590 save percentage on 104 shots faced … Mukrdechian has 16 saves with a .444 save percentage in his three games played.
Looking Ahead: Following Wednesday's game, the Pioneers will travel to SUNY Potsdam on March 31 for a non-conference game set for 1 p.m. The Pioneers will then enter a five-game conference stretch thereafter.
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