UTICA, NY-- The Utica College men's lacrosse team will hit the road Wednesday to face off against nationally-ranked No. 17 Nazareth College in Empire 8 Conference action. Game time at Nazareth is scheduled for 4 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers are coming off a big 16-3 win over SUNY Canton Saturday afternoon…The 13 goal win over the Kangaroos is the Pioneers' largest margin of victory this season…14 players added at least one point for UC… Sophomore Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) led the team with a career-high four goals and one assist…Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic), Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge), and Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) each had two goals for Utica.

BEST START IN PROGRAM-HISTORY: So far this season the Pioneers have a 6-2 overall record -- marking their best start through eight games in program-history -- and a 1-0 Empire 8 conference record…UC has won a school-record five games in a row and they have not lost since March 11^th… In the Pioneers five game win streak they have outscored their opponents 48-21 and haven't allowed an opponent to score more than six goals during the stretch…Utica College's only losses this season have come to Hamilton College and St. Lawrence University … Both Hamilton and SLU were receiving votes in the USILA National Poll at the time of their victory over Utica.

DOMINATING DEFENSE: The Pioneers currently lead the Empire 8 conference in goals against average as they are allowing just 5.63 goals per game…They are also second in the conference in caused turnovers (11.13 per game)…Senior Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) leads the team in both groundballs (40) and caused turnovers (20)…Senior classmates Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska) (14 caused turnovers, and 13 groundballs) and Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) (15 groundballs, and 13 caused turnovers) also help lead the defense.

BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) has been extremely effective in the goal for the Pioneers…He has picked up all six wins for Utica this season…He has 59 saves on the season and is third in the conference in goals against average as he allows only 5.72 goals per game…DiOrio also ranks second in the conference in save percentage (.602).

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: The Pioneers have six players with more than 10 points on the season…They are led by senior Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) who has 18 points (14 goals, four assists) … Junior Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) has 16 points (eight goals, eight assists)…Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) (11 goals, two assists) and Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) (seven goals, six assists) each have 13 points… Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack) (seven goals, five assists) and Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) (11goals) are fifth and sixth with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

CHASING RECORDS: Senior defender Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) recently became the sixth player in program-history to secure over 200 ground balls in a career … Byrne now ranks sixth all-time with 216 career ground balls …He needs 18 ground balls to surpass former All-American Mick Krajacic '12 for fifth place on the College's all-time list … Stevenson needs three more ground balls to join the 200 ground ball club … DiOrio recently moved into sole possession of third place on the College's all-time wins list (13) … He has a 13-13 career record between the pipes and he needs two more wins to surpass Travis Wright '10 for second place all-time … DiOrio's 273 career saves rank fourth all-time at UC. 

MEET THE GOLDEN FLYERS: The Golden Flyers are 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the Empire 8 conference…Their only two losses have come to Hamilton College and SUNY Oneonta…The Golden Flyers have six players with over 10 points and are led by Luke Wooters' 41 points (20 goals and 21 assists) and Troy Haefele's 35 points (19 goals, 16 assists).

UP NEXT: The Pioneers will travel to Richard Stockton on Saturday, before beginning a six game streak of conference games, starting with Ithaca College at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium on April 8^th.