Utica, NY (11/9/14)- The Utica College field hockey team captured its third straight Empire 8 Conference title as it downed No. 2 seed St. John Fisher, 3-0, Sunday afternoon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
 
With the win, Utica improves to 18-2 on the year and the Pioneers clinch their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.  They will host Fairliegh Dickinson University-Florham in the NCAA first round game Wednesday at 4 p.m.
 
UC becomes just the second team in league history to win back-to-back-to-back Empire 8 Championships.  The Pioneers did not lose to an Empire 8 opponent this season, going 8-0 in the regular season and winning both games in the E8 Tournament.  Utica also remains unbeaten at home, going 10-0 at Gaetano Stadium this year. 
 
Seniors Louise Steele-Norton (Avondale, PA/Millbrook School), Alaina Stojkovski (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse), and Hannah Mackey (Locke, NY/Moravia Central) had the goals for UC while junior Kells Casey (Sandwich, MA/Kimball Union Academy) made seven saves for her second shutout of the year.
 
The Pioneers controlled the majority of the play from the opening faceoff as they outshot Fisher 5-4 in the first half, but held a commanding 6-0 lead in penalty corners.  Steele-Norton gave Utica the lead just over 12 minutes into the game as she took a feed from Mackey on the goal line and fired into the open net.
 
Just three minutes later, Stojkovski added an insurance goal as she ran down the right side of the field, cut to the middle, and placed the ball inside the far post for her career-best 12th goal of the season.
 
Mackey capped off the scoring in the 49th minute as she took a feed from freshman Melissa Koch (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minoa) and one-timed a shot into the yawning cage for her conference-leading 36th tally of the season.
 
Senior Amanda Vitro (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) was named the Empire 8 Tournament MVP after leading the Pioneer defense that allowed just two goals in two games this weekend.  


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