Utica, NY (4/17/13) – The Utica College men's lacrosse team is set to host Ithaca College (8-4, 2-1 Empire 8) in an Empire 8 Conference match up at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium on Wednesday afternoon (4 p.m.). The Pioneers (7-4, 2-2 Empire 8) are looking to get back to their winning ways after dropping their last game, 17-7, to the first place Steven's Ducks.

Home Stretch: The Pioneers only have five games remaining this season as they look to push for a spot in the post season for the first time in program history... Before its last loss, Utica was coming off a season-best three game win streak... They are currently 3-2 at home and 4-2 on the road.

The National View: UC is ranked in the top 100 in 12-of-14 team categories for NCAA Division III (all categories have 203 ranked teams, minus one category of 20 ranked)… Amongst those the Pioneers rank 5th in caused turnovers per game, 46th in scoring offense, 31st in scoring defense, 33rd in man up offense and 25th in assists per game... Junior Joe Schoen (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) is ranked 64th in assists per game, sophomore Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) ranks 33rd in caused turnovers a game, while freshman Trent Jacobs (Akwesasne/Brewster Academy) is ranked 6th in shot percentage.

Double Trouble: Freshman Trey Adams (Hogansburg, NY/Brewster Academy) and sophomore transfer Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) have split time between the pipes this season for UC... Adams has a 4-3 record so far and ranks first in two of the four goalkeeping categories in the E8 including save percentage (.612) and goals against (38)... The freshman standout also ranks third in the conference in goals against average (7.11)... DiOrio holds a record of 4-2 this season while also ranking in the top five in three of the four goalie statistics in the conference... He is ranked second in goals against (40), third in save percentage (.570) and fifth in goals against average (9.26).

Powerhouse Offense: The Pioneers are led by four key offensive threats so far this season… Senior Ben Winkler (Rodman, NY/IHC) leads the team in points with 36 (28 goals, 8 assists) and has fired a team-high 124 shots... Classmate Justin Edelstein (Hartsdale, NY/Harvey School) is third on the team with 25 points (21 goals, 4 assists)... The senior has also grabbed 14 groundballs on the year and has had multiple goal efforts in 7-of-11 games so far this season... Junior Joe Schoen (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) is tied for second on the team with 26 points (6 goals, 20 assists)... His 20 assists rank him fifth in the conference and first on the team… Schoen has recorded at least one assist in 10-of-11 games this season… Freshman Trent Jacobs (Akwesasne/Brewster Academy) is tied with Schoen with 26 points (20 goals, 6 assists)... He currently has a team-best shot percentage (.556) and on goal shot percentage (.722).

In The Back: The Pioneers are led defensively by junior Dan Duffy (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) and sophomores Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska)… Duffy leads the team in groundballs this season (27) and is tied for second in caused turnovers (15)... Flanagan has tallied 26 groundballs and a team-best 17 caused turnovers, while Werkmeister is in a close third with 25 groundballs this year and is tied with Duffy with 15 caused turnovers.

Pioneer Tally: Utica leads its opponents in all facets of shot and man-up statistics this season... The Pioneers lead in goals (133-80), goals per game (12.09 vs. 7.27), shots on goal (269 vs. 198), shots per game (43.6 vs. 32.8), assists (84 vs. 40), man-up goals (25-17) and conversion percentage (.347 vs. .221).

All-Time Against Ithaca: The Pioneers are 1-10 against the Bombers over the course of the last ten seasons... Their only win came in 2010 when UC defeated Ithaca 9-5... Last year UC fell 13-6in its meeting against Ithaca… Ben Winkler (Rodman, NY/IHC) netted two goals, while Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) had one goal on the day.

Looking Ahead: The Pioneers will travel to Elmira College on Saturday for a conference tilt against the Soaring Eagles… Game time is set for 1 p.m.


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