Pittsford, NY (Oct. 4, 2014) – The Utica College field hockey extended its winning streak to seven games as the Pioneers topped host Nazareth College 5-1 in Empire 8 Conference action Saturday afternoon. The nation's leading goal scorer,
Hannah Mackey (Locke, NY/Moravia Central), led the Pioneers with two goals, while
Nikki Kieffer (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy),
Becki Vivacqua (Yorkville, NY/New York Mills Jr-Sr High) and
Chasity Eckert (Afton, NY/Afton Central) also added goals for the Pioneers.
Utica, which is receiving votes in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association National Poll, improved to 9-1 overall and remained undefeated with a 4-0 record in Empire 8 play. Nazareth's record moved to 6-7 overall and 2-3 in E8 play.
Mackey (21 goals) is now eyeing down College's single-season record for goals which is currently held by teammate
Louise Steele-Norton (Avondale, PA/Millbrook School), who tallied 27 goals back in 2012 on her way to earning All-American honors.
Mackey opened the scoring on the afternoon with her conference best 20
th goal of the season to put the Pioneers on top 1-0 in the seventh minute of action. Nazareth's Cathy Stahl responded by knotting the score at 1-1 in the 20
th minute off an assist from Catherine Willard.
Just over two minutes later the Pioneers took the lead back when Kieffer netted her second of the season to put UC on top 2-1 at 21:22. The Pioneers would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the contest, outscoring the home team 4-0 in the final 48:38 of action.
Vivacqua added her fifth of the season before the half to give UC a 3-1 lead as the halftime horn sounded.
Chasity Eckert (Afton, NY/Afton Central) netted her eighth goal of the year to open the second half and Mackey added an insurance tally in the 64
th minute. Utica's
Alaina Stojkovski (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) assisted on Mackey's second goal of the afternoon.
UC goalie
Kells Casey (Sandwich, MA/Kimball Union Academy) picked up her 35
th career victory, stopping one shot, in the cage for Utica.
Nazareth goalie Shannon Winney stopped 14 shots in the loss for the Golden Flyers. The Pioneers outshot Naz 27-2 and also earned an 8-2 penalty corner advantage.
UC returns to action for game two of a three game road trip on Wednesday when the Pioneers travel to The College at Brockport to take on the Golden Eagles at 4 p.m.