UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team travels to Houghton College for an Empire 8 Conference matchup on Saturday. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Last Time Out: Utica fell on the road 10-9 against Oswego State on Wednesday … The Lakers jumped out to a 5-3 lead after the first quarter and improved on that lead going into halftime with an 8-4 advantage … Both teams scored two goals in the third quarter to make the score 10-6 … Utica would dominate the fourth quarter, scoring three goals and coming up just short of a comeback … Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) had four points off of two goals and two assists while Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) had four points off of three goals and one assist.
 
Point Streak: Senior Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) leads the team with 21 points off of six goals and a team-high 15 assists … Finnegan is fifth in the conference in assists per game (1.88) … He has scored in all eight games this year and is currently on a 10 game scoring streak dating back to last year … He has scored a season-high four points in three games this year and has six games where he has scored more than one point.
 
Freshman Standout: Freshman Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) is second on the team with 17 points off of a team-high 13 goals and four assists … Castiglia has scored at least one point in seven of the eight games this year … He had a career high four goals and five points against Keuka earlier in the season ... He has scored more than one point in five of his first eight collegiate games.
 
Helping Out: Utica has 15 players with at least one point this year … Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) is third on the team with 15 points off of nine goals and six assists while Desveaux is fourth on the team with 10 points off of eight goals and two assists … Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) is fifth on the team with nine points off of four goals and five assists … Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) is sixth on the team with seven points off of five goals and two assists.
 
Leading The Defense: UC has three players with 10 or more caused turnovers … Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) is first on the team with 13, Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip) is second on the team with 11, and Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska) is third on the team with 10 … Nicolaus is seventh in the conference in caused turnovers per game (1.63) while Dessert is tied for ninth in the conference (1.38) … Dessert is first on the team with 21 groundballs while Nicolaus is second on the team with 19.
 
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 seven games, has 83 saves, a .472 save percentage, and a 14.88 goals against average … Smith has started one game while playing in four games total … He has 13 saves, a .650 save percentage, and a 5.25 goals against average … Smith is third in the conference in goals against average and third in the conference in save percentage … DiOrio is third in the conference in saves per game (11.86) ... DiOrio's 444 career saves puts him in sole possession of third all-time in the College's career record book … He passes Bruce Wright '04 who had 440 career saves.

Scouting The Highlanders: Houghton is 2-5 overall with a 0-1 conference record … The Highlanders are coming off of a 8-6 loss to conference opponent Elmira College on Wednesday … Houghton is led by Paul Chapman (29 points off of 21 goals and eight assists) and Austin Andryshak (25 points off of 20 goals and five assists) … Christopher Bucciarelli (94 saves, a .528 save percentage, and a 12.26 goals against average) is in the net for the Highlanders.
 
Against Houghton: The Highlanders are 0-3 against Utica all-time … Utica is 1-0 at home and 2-0 on the road against Houghton … UC won last year 26-5, 19-2 in 2014, and 23-1 in 2013.
 
Watch From Home: Follow live stats and video by clicking on the link: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/houghton/.
 
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 return to action when they travel to conference opponent Alfred on Saturday … The game is scheduled for 1 p.m.