UTICA, NY -- The Utica College women's soccer team will travel to Oneonta this Wednesday for an Empire 8 showdown against the Hartwick Hawks.  Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Utica was shutout 8-0 at nationally-ranked No. 5 Stevens Institute of Technology last Saturday (Oct. 15).  Senior Raba Nassif led the way for Stevens scoring four of the eight goals. Freshman goalie Allison Wagner (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) made 16 saves during the game for the Pioneers.  She has now made over ten saves in seven of the team's games so far this season.  The Ducks remain undefeated (13-0) while the Pioneers fell to 2-11 overall and 1-4 in the Empire 8.
 
LEADING THE WAY: Senior Ciara McIlvenny (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington) and sophomore Jenna Mazza (Frankfort, NY/Sauquoit Valley) are both the team's leading scorers with four goals.  Junior Keri Berkowitz (Racine, WI/Racine Saint Catherine's) leads the team in assists with six.  She is also ranked fifth in the Empire 8 Conference in assists. 
 
BLOCKING THE WAY: Wagner now has 108 saves this season.  She has a 3.67 goals against average and a .766 save percentage.  Wagner also leads the Empire 8 Conference in saves per game (Avg/G 8.82). 
 
SCOUTING HARTWICK: Hartwick is 6-4-3 overall, and they are 1-2-2 in the Empire 8 Conference.  In their last game (on Oct. 16), Hartwick had a 1-1 tie on the road against the Hamilton Continentals.  Sophomore Madison Miller scored the Hawks first and only goal against Hamilton.  Miller has scored a team-best four goals this season.  Junior Allie Ricci, junior Casey Boucher, junior Ashley Connolly, and sophomore Rachel Weir have each scored three goals this season. Megan McGillycuddy is the team's top performing goalie.  She has made 49 saves this year to go along with a .72 goals against average.   
 
AGAINST THE HAWKS: The Pioneers are 1-4 against the Hawks in the past five seasons.  Their last victory against Hartwick came on Sept. 21, 2011.  Sarah Southwell, Jill Benoit, Samantha Spohler, and Chelsea Way each scored a goal to help Utica get past Hartwick, 4-3.  The Pioneers lost 2-0 to the Hawks last year (Sept. 22, 2015).  Senior goalie Jamie Enders (Cazenovia, NY/Cazenovia) made eight saves during that game. 
 
LOOKING AHEAD:  After Hartwick, the Pioneers will play one more road game against the Houghton Highlanders this Saturday.  Then they will wrap-up the 2016 season at home against Alfred (Oct. 29).