UTICA, NY—The Utica College men's lacrosse team heads to Elmira, NY on Saturday to take on the Elmira College Soaring Eagles in Empire 8 Conference action.  The contest is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: UC is coming off an 8-4 loss at conference foe Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday… Stevens used a 5-1 run in the second half to knock off the Pioneers… Utica was led offensively by Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) who recorded two points (one goal, one assist)… Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge), Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew), and Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) scored one goal each … With Wednesday's loss, UC dropped to 6-7 overall and 1-4 in Empire 8 play… The Pioneers sit in the seventh spot in the Empire 8 Conference standings … They are also on a five game losing streak after starting the season with a 6-2 record.

STEADY D: Despite Utica's losing streak, the defense has held strong all year… They currently rank third in the Empire 8 in caused turnovers (10.31), and fourth in goals against average (7.85) … Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) currently leads the team in caused turnovers with a total of 36… Teammates Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska) have also forced a combined 37 turnovers for the Pioneer defense… Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) currently leads the team in groundballs with 67.

DEFENDING THE CAGE: Senior goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) has continued his solid play in net for the Pioneers… He recently registered a career-high 23 saves in the Pioneers' loss at Stevens … He currently ranks second in the Empire 8 in save percentage (.578) and third in saves per game with an average of 10.00… DiOrio has also collected all six of UC's wins and has 130 saves on the season.

THE OFFENSE: Utica's offense looks to break out this weekend after only producing an average of 4.2 goals per game over the course of its last five games… Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) currently leads the Pioneers offensively with a total of 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists)… Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) leads the Pioneers with 17 goals and is second on the team with 21 points… Stevenson has also collected 32 groundballs and posted a .443 average in the face-off circle… Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) is the only other Pioneer with at least 20 points as he has tallied 13 goals and seven assists.

MEET THE SOARING EAGLES: Elmira College currently sits in the eighth spot in the Empire 8, just behind Utica, with an overall record of 2-8 including a 1-5 record in conference play… Elmira has dropped three in a row, all against Empire 8 opponents… They are led offensively by Eric Hallman (10 goals, five assists)… Elmira only has four players with at least 10 points and only three of those players have 10 or more goals.

ALL-TIME: Utica holds an 8-7 all-time series advantage over Elmira in 15 previous meetings dating back to 2000 … UC holds a three game win streak in the series … The last time Elmira beat Utica was back in 2011 at Gaetano Stadium by the score of 11-7 … The Pioneers have won six of the last seven meetings in the series. 

UP NEXT: Following Saturday's contest, the Pioneers have just two games remaining… Both games are at home and both are against Empire 8 teams… On Wednesday, April 22 UC will host St. John Fisher for a 7 p.m. contest under the lights of Charles A. Gaetano Stadium… Utica will then play host to Houghton College on Saturday, April 25 at 1 p.m. in its regular season finale.