Men's Soccer | 9/30/2014 10:20:00 AM

Utica, NY (September 30, 2014) – The Utica College men's soccer team is set to travel to nearby Morrisville State on Tuesday night for game two of a four game midseason road trip.  The contest is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

FOLLOW THE GAME LIVE: Morrisville athletics will provide live stats (http://morrisvillestateathletics.com/sports/msoc/2014-15/boxscores/20140930_xdr3.xml) for the contest …  If you can't make it out to the game make sure to follow live updates on the Pioneers official Twitter feed: @UCPioneers… If you are at the game on Twitter, or talking about the game on Twitter, make sure to use #UCMoose… You can also "Like" the Pioneers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCPioneers ... Fans can follow the Pioneers on Instagram: UCPioneers. 

CLOSE AS IT GETS: Utica has won two of its last three games by way of a game-winning goal in the last ten minutes of regulation … The Pioneers topped Houghton 2-1 after senior Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) drilled a game-winner in the 83^rd minute on Saturday, September 20^th … UC's Raine Owens (Pine Plains, NY/Stissing Mt. ) added a game-winner in the 81^st minute to lift UC to a 2-1 victory at Elmira on Saturday … The Pioneers lone loss in the last three games was a 2-1 overtime defeat at the hands of Hamilton last Tuesday … Two of the Pioneers three losses this season came by one goal.

SOLID START: The Pioneers are currently 4-3-2 overall and more importantly they are 2-0 in the Empire 8 after key victories over Houghton and Elmira … The Pioneers have five conference contests remaining against Stevens, Ithaca, Nazareth, Fisher and Alfred … The top four teams make the conference tournament … UC is hoping to advance to its second straight conference tournament championship.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Six of the Pioneers' final nine games this season will be on the road … The Pioneers will have to increase their road production down the stretch in order to make a run at the playoffs … The Pioneers are currently 1-2-1 on the road and 3-1-1 at the friendly confines of Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

OWENS' BREAKS OUT: Sophomore Raine Owens (Pine Plains, NY/Stissing Mt. ) netted his first two goals of the season on Saturday at Elmira, one to open the contest in the 20th minute, and he added the game-winner in the 81st minute to help the Pioneers earn a 2-1 win over Elmira College on Saturday … It truly was a break out game for Owens' who entered the contest with just one shot in his previous five games played.

RUFFING CONTINUES TO DOMINATE: Senior forward Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) leads the conference and ranks 14^th nationally with eight goals this season … He also leads the conference and ranks 17^th nationally with 17 points … His 44 career points rank fourth all-time at UC … He has 19 career goals (4^th all-time) and six assists … Against Houghton he tied the program-record for career game-winning goals – he now has seven.

GIVING BACK: Utica's Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia) and Chris Stashko (Apalachin, NY/Apalachin) rank one-two in the Empire 8 in assists … Gazashvili leads the E8 with five assists, and three of those assists have come in conference play … Stashko ranks second on the team with eight points on two goals and four assists this year.

MAKING THE MOST OF HIS SENIOR YEAR: Senior goalie David Abdou (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) has three shut outs and a 1.25 goals against average in nine starts this season … He ranks third in the E8 with a .774 save percentage.

MEET THE MUSTANGS: Morrisville, ranked 10th in the East region by the NSCAA, opened the season with a huge 3-2 win over nationally-ranked University of Rochester in overtime … The Mustangs have not slowed since, recording an 8-2 overall record and a 5-1 mark in NEAC conference play … They have won seven of their last eight games, including four straight … Morrisville's Joe Sheehan leads the team with 20 points on eight goals and four assists this season … Julian Rodriguez has also provided a nice spark for Morrisville, as he ranks second on the team with seven goals and four assists … Jamieson McKoy leads the team with two game-winning goals and he has five total goals this season.

BACK TO E8 PLAY: The Pioneers return to the grind of Empire 8 play against traditional power Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Hoboken, N.J. The Ducks are 6-3 overall and 2-0 in the Empire 8.