Utica, NY- The Utica College men's lacrosse team will travel to face Morrisville State College in a non-conference match up on Thursday. Face-off is set for 1 p.m. at Morrisville.

UC SO FAR: The Pioneers hold a 2-2 overall record heading into their match up at Morrsiville Thursday … UC has victories over SUNY Poly and SUNY Potsdam…Utica's two losses were against St. Lawrence and Hamilton College…Both teams were receiving votes in the USILA National Poll at the time of their victories over the Pioneers.

STAUNCH DEFENSE: Senior captain Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) ranks 20^th nationally and first in the Empire 8 with an average of 2.75 caused turnovers per game … As a team the Pioneers rank 39^th in the nation and third in the Empire 8 with an average of 7.00 goals allowed per game. 

IMPACT PLAYERS: So far this season Utica has 14 players with at least one point, including nine players who have scored at least one goal… Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) leads the Pioneers with seven goals, and has added three ground balls, and three caused turnovers… Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) leads the team with six assists, and has helped the scoring effort by adding two goals…Tom Bryne leads the team with 18 ground balls, has seven caused turnovers, and has also added two goals…Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) has a .500 win percentage in face-offs while adding four goals, and two assist.

CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the second consecutive week the Pioneers secured the Conference's offensive player of the week award after Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) earned the honor on Monday for the first time in his career … Desveaux was named the E8 Player of the Week two weeks ago … Miller netted a team-best four goals over the course of two games for Utica last week. He scored two goals in the Pioneers 6-4 win over Potsdam on Saturday … He also netted a team-best two goals in Utica's 11-6 loss to Hamilton on Wednesday … He has scored a goal in each game this season and he ranks second on the team with six goals through four games … He has a team-high 13 shots on goal this season.

SAVE OF THE DAY: Goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) moved into fourth all-time in school-history for saves following his 11 save performance against SUNY Potsdam…DiOrio now has 246 career saves just four games into his senior season.

LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers are coming off a low scoring victory over SUNY Potsdam... The victory breaks a four game losing streak against the Bears… UC held off a late rally by the Bears to hold on for a 6-4 win…Both Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) and Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) scored two goals for the Pioneers… Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) and Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) each had one goal… DiOrio had 11 stops in the victory.

HISTORY: This is the first match up between the Utica College Pioneers and the Morrisville State College Mustangs in program-history.

MEET THE MUSTANGS: The Mustangs are currently 1-3 to start off the 2015 season…They have dropped their last three match ups after winning their season opener…The Mustangs have 13 players with at least one goal…They are led by Louie Geswaldo (six goals, two assists), and John Sherlock (five goals, six assists)…Last season Morrisville finished with a 13-4 overall record and an 6-1 conference record.

EMPIRE 8 OPENER: Following Thursday's road game, the Pioneers will continue their road trip by heading to Hartwick College to open up Empire 8 Conference play on Saturday at 1 p.m. … They will then return home to face Oswego State next Wednesday at 4 p.m