UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team opens up Empire 8 Conference play on the road at Ithaca College on Saturday. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Last Time Out: The Pioneers lost a close matchup against non-conference opponent Keuka, 9-8, on Wednesday afternoon … Utica tied the score up 5-5 with 11:09 left in the third before the teams traded goals into the fourth quarter … Utica was down 8-6 with 4:49 left to play before scoring two straight goals to tie the game at 8-8 with 1:45 left to play … The game seem destined for overtime until the Wolfpack scored with five seconds left to play to earn the victory.
 
Model Of Consistency: Senior Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) and freshman Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) have scored at least one point in every game this year … Finnegan scored four points in three games straight against SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Poly, and Brockport … Castiglia had a career-high five points against Keuka … Finnegan is first on the team with 16 points off of six goals and a team high 10 assists while Castiglia is second on the team with 14 points off of a team high 10 goals and four assists … Finnegan is seventh in the conference in assists per game with 1.67. 
 
Helping Out: Utica has 13 players who have registered at least one point this season … Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) is third on the team with nine points off of four goals and five assists … Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) and Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) are tied for fourth on the team with seven points … Miller has five goals and two assists while Yelich has three goals and four assists … Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) is fifth on the team with six points off of six goals while Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) has added four points off of two goals and two assists.
 
Leading The Defense: Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) leads the team in groundballs (14) and caused turnovers (11) while Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip) is second on the team with 13 groundballs and nine caused turnovers … Nicolaus is sixth in the conference in caused turnovers per game with 1.83 while Dessert is ninth in the conference with 1.50.
 
In The Net: Senior Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) and junior Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) have played the majority of the minutes in net for the Pioneers … DiOrio has started five games, has 57 saves, a .463 save percentage, and a 14.67 goals against average … Smith has started one game while playing in three games total … He has 12 saves, a .667 save percentage, and a 5.54 goals against average … Smith is fourth in the conference in goals against average, fourth in the conference in save percentage, and 10^th in the conference in saves per game (4.00) … DiOrio is third in the conference in saves per game (11.40) and 12^th in the conference in save percentage.
 
Against Ithaca: UC lost last year 12-5 at home against the Bombers … The last time Utica beat Ithaca was a 9-5 victory on the road in 2010.
 
Scouting The Bombers: Ithaca is 6-1 overall with a 2-0 home record, a 2-1 away record, and a 2-0 neutral site record … The Bombers are currently on a four game win streak with victories over Oswego State (19-4), Colorado College (19-3), Babson College (15-7), and Oneonta (17-4) … Ithaca is led by Jake Cotton (35 points off of 17 goals and 18 assists) and David Drozjock (16 points off of 10 goals and six assists) … In the net for the Bombers are Scott Sidnam (45 saves, .652 save percentage, and a 4.33 goals against average) and Jack Deragon (eight saves, .667 save percentage, and a 3.72 goals against average).
 
Watch From Home: To get live stats and live video click on the links: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ithaca/mlax/ , http://original.livestream.com/ithacabombers .
 
Social Media: Make sure to follow live updates of the game on the Pioneers official Twitter feed: @UCPioneers… If you are at the game and on Twitter, or talking about the game 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.
 
Looking Ahead: The Pioneers play their fourth game in a row on the road against Oswego State on Wednesday… The game is scheduled for 4 p.m.