UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team hosts Empire 8 Conference opponent Nazareth College on Wednesday. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
Last Time Out: Utica fell to conference opponent Alfred 19-10 on Sunday … Four different Pioneers scored while three players had assists … Utica was ahead 4-3 after the first quarter but was outscored 6-1 in the second quarter to go into halftime trailing 9-5 … Alfred would score five goals in each of the next two quarters while Utica would score three in the third quarter and two in the fourth.
 
Dominate Freshman: Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) leads the team with 32 points off of a team high 24 goals and eight assists … Castiglia is tied for eighth in the conference in goals per game (2.40) and is tied for 10^th in points per game (3.20) … He had a career high nine points (five goals, four assists) against Houghton (4/2/16) and a career high six goals against Alfred (4/10/16) … Castiglia has scored at least one point in nine of the 10 games this season and has had five games with three or more points this season.
 
Double Digit Scorers: Utica has six players with more than 10 points on the season … Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) is second on the team with 24 points off of seven goals and 17 assists … Finnegan is seventh in the conference in assists per game (1.70) … Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) is third on the team with 17 points off of 11 goals and six assists while Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) is fourth on the team with 15 points off of 12 goals and three assists … Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) (13 points off of six goals and seven assists) is fifth on the team while Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) (11 points off of five goals and six assists) rounds out the top six players.
 
Leading The Defense: Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip) leads the team in caused turnovers (17) and groundballs (30) while Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) is second on the team with 16 caused turnovers and 27 groundballs … Dessert is sixth in the conference in caused turnovers per game (1.70) while Nicolaus is eighth in the conference (1.60) … Senior Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska) is third on the team with 12 caused turnovers.
 
In The Net: Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) and Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) have both gotten starts in the net for Utica … DiOrio has 95 saves, a .459 save percentage, and a 15.45 goals against average … Smith has 14 saves, a .609 save percentage, and a 4.91 goals against average … Smith is first in the conference in goals against average and fourth in the conference in save percentage while DiOrio is third in the conference in saves per game (11.88) and 14^th in the conference in save percentage.
 
Scouting Nazareth: The Golden Flyers are 8-3 overall with a 3-1 conference record … Nazareth is coming off of a 19-5 loss to conference opponent Ithaca College on Saturday … The Golden Flyers are led by Luke Wooters (68 points off of 30 goals and 38 assists) and Troy Haefele (50 points off of 28 goals and 22 assists) … Scott Brown (78 saves, a .531 save percentage, and a 10.51 goals against average) is in the net for Nazareth.
 
Against The Golden Flyers: Utica is 1-14 all-time against Nazareth … Last year Utica fell 17-1 on the road … UC last beat the Golden Flyers 11-9 at home in the 2008 season.
 
Looking Ahead: The Pioneers host conference opponent Stevens on Wednesday … The game is scheduled for 4 p.m.