UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's soccer team looks to keep the ball rolling this weekend when it travels to Oswego State Saturday (7 p.m.) before returning home to take on Wells College (5 p.m.) on Sunday. 

BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN: Senior John Burke (Commack. NY/Commack) headed home the game-winner at the 78:37 mark to lift the Pioneers to a 2-1 victory over visiting SUNY Polytechnic on the turf at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Wednesday night … Junior Patrick Claffey (Burlington, CT/Lewis Mills) sent a beautiful crossing pass into the box and connected with Burke, who headed his second collegiate tally into the upper left corner of the goal to give UC the late one goal lead … Claffey also added the game's opening goal for the Pioneers. 

1-3 NOT AS BAD AS IT MIGHT SOUND: The Pioneers snapped a three game skid on Wednesday and moved their record to 1-3 overall on the year … The last time UC opened the season with a 1-3 record was back in 2013 when they went on to finish the season with a 10-10 overall record and advanced to the Empire 8 Conference Tournament Championship game for the first and only time in program-history … UC's first three losses of the season came against formidable opponents (Hobart, Gordon, Endicott) and will prepare the Pioneers for the rigors of Empire 8 Conference play. 

CLAFFEY BREAKING OUT: Junior defender Patrick Claffey (Burlington, CT/Lewis Mills) headed into Wednesday night's game with 31 career games played and zero points … He broke out with his first collegiate goal and first collegiate assist to help lift the Pioneers to their first win of the season. 

CHASING RECORDS: Senior Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) now has 57 career points (25 goals, seven assists) and needs six more points to move into sole possession of third place on the College's all-time list … The school record for career points is currently held by Evan Dufault '07, who registered 74 points in three seasons with the Pioneers … Ruffing's average of .93 points per game over the course of his career is tied for sixth on the College's all-time list with recent graduate Kevin McAllister … Ruffing currently has 26 goals and needs one more goal to tie the school-record for career goals which is currently held by Dufault and McAllister … So far this season Ruffing has two goals and one assist in three games played and his average of 1.67 points per game ranks seventh in the Empire 8.

HELPING OUT: Reigning Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Year Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia) has showed no signs of slowing in his sophomore campaign as he currently leads the Empire 8 Conference with three assists through four games played … He now has nine career assists which is tied for tenth on the College's all-time list … His career average of .41 assists per game ranks third on the College's all-time list (min. 15 games played).

FIRST CAREER WIN: UC goalie Nick Hallett (Adams, NY/South Jefferson CSD) posted his first career victory on Wednesday night against SUNY Poly … He currently leads the Empire 8 in total saves with 23 through four games. 

MEET THE LAKERS: UC is 0-2-1 against Oswego in the last ten years … The two squads rekindled the rivalry last season after taking a seven year layoff from playing each other on the non-conference schedule … The Pioneers and Lakers fought to a 0-0 double overtime draw at Gaetano Stadium last season … Oswego is currently 2-2 overall with wins over Canton and Hamilton … The Lakers are riding the highs of an emotional 1-0 double overtime victory over host Hamilton College on Wednesday afternoon … Team leading scorer Bernard Osei netted the game winner for Oswego on Wednesday and now has five points on two goals and one assist this season … Oswego has losses to two tough opponents in William Paterson and St. Lawrence.

THE EXPRESS: The Pioneers are 7-1 against Wells in the last ten seasons and they have outscored the Express 22-7 in that stretch … Wells used two second half goals to overcome an early 1-0 deficit as the Express topped visiting Utica College, 2-1, for the first time in program history last season on September 9 … Wells College currently holds a 2-2 overall record with wins over D'Youville and Pitt.-Bradford … The Express are coming off a 2-1 loss at the hands of Medaille on Tuesday … They are led by reigning North East Athletic Conference Player of the Week Max Cherry, who has a team-best four goals this season. 

PIONEERS ALL-ACCESS: If you can't make it out to Charles A. Gaetano Stadium to watch the game in person, Pioneers All-Access is the place to be on game day, providing live video, audio (WPNR 90.7 FM) and stats for all UC home games at the stadium… Pioneers All-Access is a completely FREE service provided for those members of the Pioneer nation that might not be able to make it out to the game … Live statistics and social media are fully integrated into the Pioneers All-Access site for the most comprehensive viewing experience …  Make sure to check out Pioneers All-Access at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Make sure to follow live updates of all the action on the Pioneers official Twitter feed: @UCPioneers… If you are at the games and on Twitter, or talking about the games on Twitter, make sure to use #UCMoose… You can also "Like" the Pioneers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCpioneers ... Fans can also follow the Pioneers on Instagram: UCPioneers.