UTICA, NY- The Utica College men's lacrosse team is set to travel to Pomona, New Jersey Saturday to face off against the Ospreys of Richard Stockton. Game time in New Jersey is scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers (6-3) are coming off a 17-1 loss to nationally-ranked No. 17 Nazareth College on Wednesday. Freshmen attacker Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) scored the only goal in the contest for Utica while senior net minder Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) made 15 saves. The loss snapped a five game winning streak, which had propelled Utica to its best start in program history. The team's only losses this season have come from Nazareth (No. 17 nationally) and Hamilton and St. Lawrence, which were in the USILA receiving votes category during their games with Utica.
 
STELLAR DEFENSE: UC leads the conference in goals against average, allowing 6.8 per game. Senior Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) is ranked eighth in the conference and first on the team in ground balls per game with 5.00 and he also leads the team in caused turnovers (23). Adding to the strong defense are classmates Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) (15 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers) and Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska) (14 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers).
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES:  Senior goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) has had a record-breaking season for himself so far this year as he has moved up to fourth all time at Utica College for career saves. With 74 so far this season he ranks third in the conference in goals against average (5.72) and second in the conference in save percentage (.602).
 
GENERATING OFFENSE: The Pioneers have six players with 12 points or more so far this season. The offense is led by Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) (18), Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) (17), Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) (13), Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) (13), Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) (12), and Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack) (12). UC has outscored their opponents 72-62 and dominates in goals in the third quarter outscoring their opponents 21-8.
 
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 221 career ground balls …He needs 13 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 13-14 career record between the pipes and he needs two more wins to surpass Travis Wright '10 for second place all-time … DiOrio's 288 career saves rank fourth all-time at UC.
 
SCOUTING THE OSPREY'S: Richard Stockton is currently 7-3 overall and 1-1 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Stockton is led by Nick Bologno who has 42 points, and along with Bologno the Ospreys have three other players with at least 10 goals so far this season.  Stockton has outscored its opponents 106-70 and has a record of 4-1 when playing at home.
 
WHATS NEXT: Following the Richard Stockton game the Pioneers will return to their home turf Wednesday to square off against Empire 8 foe Ithaca College. Game time at the Charles A. Gaetano Stadium is set for 4 p.m.