Utica, NY (10/29/14) – The nationally ranked No. 20 Utica College field hockey team will wrap up non-conference play Wednesday as it travels to Oneonta for a match up against the Red Dragons.  The game is set to start at 5 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers defeated visiting Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 3-0, over the weekend … Senior Hannah Mackey (Locke, NY/Moravia Central) scored the first two goals while classmate Alaina Stojkovski (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) scored the final goal … Freshman Samantha Whitehouse (Greenwich, NY/Greenwich) made four saves to pick up her first career shutout… UC racked up 25 shots on the day and earned seven corners.
 
NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: After being in the "receiving votes" category of the national poll for the last five weeks, UC finally cracked the top-20 in the latest NFHCA coaches poll, released Tuesday… The Pioneers are currently No. 20, just two points behind University of Rochester, and six votes behind No. 18 DePauw University… Utica is 15-1 (7-0 Empire 8) on the season and holds the nation's longest active winning streak at 13 games…  UC is second nationally in winning percentage (.938) behind No. 4 TCNJ (.941).
 
MACKEY BEING MACKEY: Senior Hannah Mackey (Locke, NY/Moravia Central) continues to lead the country in scoring… The forward leads the conference with 32 goals and remains atop the national leaderboard with 2.0 goals per game… Her 4.31 points per game is also the best in the country… Mackey has scored in all but one game this season and is currently in the midst of a 13-game goal-scoring streak.
 
PROTECT THE HOUSE: The Utica defense has shut opponents down this season… UC is allowing just 1.31 goals per game… Senior Amanda Vitro (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) has played every minute of the last 15 games, while freshman Samantha Whitehouse (Greenwich, NY/Greenwich) leads the Empire 8 with a .852 save percentage and .76 goals against average. 
 
BRINGING THE HEAT: Seniors Louise Steele-Norton (Avondale, PA/Millbrook School) and Alaina Stojkovski (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) round out the top three for most goals on the team … Steele-Norton has 12 on the season while Stojkovski has put in 10 … Each player has scored in three of the past four games and they have combined for 107 shots on the season … Steele-Norton and Stojkovski are currently second and fourth, respectively, on Utica's all-time scoring list.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST ONEONTA: The Pioneers fell to Oneonta last year, 4-3 in overtime… Colleen Dowling (Fairport, NY/Fairport) got things started for Utica as she scored the first goal of the game… Hannah Mackey (Locke, NY/Moravia Central) pitched in to help take a 2-1 lead … In the second half Oneonta scored twice within three minutes to take a 3-2 lead … Louise Steele-Norton (Avondale, PA/Millbrook School) scored late in the second half to force overtime … While in overtime, Oneonta's Ashley Morgan worked through three defenders and scored the game winning goal.
 
SCOUTING THE RED DRAGONS: The Red Dragons are 10-6 and 5-2 at home … Oneonta shutout New Paltz, the same team Utica's only loss came against … The Red Dragons have eight players with at least one goal and another three with at least one point
 
NEXT TIME OUT: Utica returns home Saturday for an Empire 8 rubber match against St. John Fisher College, which is also 7-0 in conference play.  The winner will take home the E8 regular season title and hosting rights for the conference tournament...  Saturday's game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.  


                                                                                         --- www.ucpioneers.com ---