UTICA, NY – The Utica College women's lacrosse team outscored visiting SUNY Polytechnic Institute 12-1 in the first half and never looked back as the Pioneers cruised to an 18-3 victory at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.  Senior Morgan DuPont (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) tied her own school-record with six assists in the victory while freshman Brooke Miller (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) added a career-high four goals to pace the Pioneers.  Courtney Wheeler (Ava, NY/Rome Free Academy) and Rebecca Plunkett (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) each added three goals for Utica.

Wheeler and Plunkett now have six goals each in their last two outings for the Pioneers. Utica outshot the Wildcats 35-13 on the day and the Pioneers also earned a 30-15 advantage in ground balls.  UC has now won three straight games as it improved to 4-2 overall on the year, including a 3-1 record at the friendly confines of Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

The Pioneers scored the game's first 12 goals over the course of the first 28:17 of action.  All four of Miller's goals came in a span of 12:53 in the first half. Wheeler netted all three of her goals in the first half, while Tewasherake Barnes (Akwesasne, NY/Salmon River) chipped in with two goals in the first 6:01 of play. Kane and Plunkett each added a first half goal and freshman Melissa Koch (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minoa) also tallied her first collegiate goal midway through the first half of play. 

SUNY Poly's Krysta Beha scored with 12 seconds to go in the first half to make the score 12-1 at the intermission.  Beha also opened the second half with her team-best 18^th goal of the season to make the score 12-2 8:20 into the second half. 

UC then rattled off six straight goals in a span of 14:08 to take an 18-2 lead with 6:02 left in the contest.  Junior Briana Estabrook (Tully, NY/Tully ) netted her fourth collegiate goal, and first of the season, to open the second half scoring for UC.  Plunkett went on to add two more goals while Megan Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville), Xiomara Rodriguez (Bay Shore, NY/Brentwood) and Patricia Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) also posted one goal apiece.

Estabrook and Amanda Muldoon (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each posted three caused turnovers, while Megan Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) added five ground balls and five draw controls.

SUNY Poly's Nicole DiPiazza and Tierney McGlynn each posted three ground balls for the visitors.  Cassidy Thompson stopped seven shots in 30 minutes of work between the pipes for the Wildcats. SUNY Poly's record moved to 2-2 overall after Tuesday's loss.    

UC goalies Kells Casey (Sandwich, MA/Kimball Union Academy), Erin Jacobson (Staten Island, NY/Curtis) and Anastacia Faso (Walden, NY/Valley Central) combined for three saves in net for the Pioneers.

Megan Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) surpassed Kat Glynn '04 for fifth place on the College's all-time scoring list as she now has 143 career points.  Morgan DuPont (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) moved into ninth place on the all-time list with 125 career points as she passed Lauren Schreiner '06.

Utica opens up Empire 8 Conference play on Friday when the Pioneers travel to Stevens Institute of Technology to take on the Ducks at 2 p.m.