Utica, NY (4/22/15)-The Utica College men's lacrosse team hosts the St. John Fisher Cardinals in an Empire 8 Conference match up Wednesday evening. Face-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
 
Last Time Out: The Pioneers are coming off of a 9-6 come-from-behind victory over Elmira College on Saturday… UC scored the last seven goals of the game to down the Soaring Eagles… Utica was led by senior Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) and sophomore Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) who each had three goals… Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack) had two goals while Sean Behan (Dewitt, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) scored his first goal of the year… With the victory the Pioneers snapped a five game losing streak and improved their record to 7-7 overall and 2-4 in the conference.
 
Defense: UC is third in the conference in goals against, allowing only 7.71 goals per game as well as being third in the conference in caused turnovers with 10.14 per game… Senior Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) leads the team in groundballs (73), and caused turnovers (38)… Classmates Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska) have collectively forced 38 turnovers and scooped up 41 groundballs for the defense.
 
Offensive Leaders: The Pioneers have six players with 10 points or more including five players with more than 10 goals… Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) leads the Pioneers in points (24), including a team-high 20 goals… Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) is third on the team with 22 points with 11 goals and a team high 11 assists…Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) is the only other Pioneer with more than 20 points as he has netted 16 goals and seven assists.
 
Guarding the Goal: Senior goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) has started every game in goal for the Pioneers this year… He is first in the conference in save percentage (.581) and fourth in the E8 in both goals against average (7.89) and saves per game (10.00)… DiOrio has collected all seven of UC's wins and has totaled 140 saves on the year.
 
All Time: The Pioneers are 5-8 against Fisher in the previous 13 match ups since the two teams started playing in 2002…UC last beat St. John Fisher in a double overtime victory 10-9 at Charles A. Gaetano stadium in 2013.
 
Meet The Cardinals: The Cardinals are 9-5 overall with a 4-2 conference record…St. John Fisher is currently on a four game winning streak, including victories over three Empire 8 opponents…The Cardinals are led by Matthew Condon who has 19 goals and two assists…Fisher has nine players with over 10 points including seven players with 10 or more goals.
 
Up Next: Following Wednesday night's game the Pioneers only have one game remaining…UC's final game is on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Houghton College at Charles A. Gaetano stadium.