UTICA, NY- The Utica College women's lacrosse team travels to Nazareth College on Saturday, looking to clinch a spot in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament next weekend.  Game time is set for 1 p.m.
 
WIN AND WE'RE IN: The Pioneers (9-6) currently have a 4-3 mark in the Empire 8, while Naz is 5-2… If UC defeats the Golden Flyers, each team would finish the regular season 5-3, with Utica holding the head-to-head tiebreaker to clinch the program's first Empire 8 Tournament berth since 2006.
 
LEADING THE WAY: Junior Rebecca Plunkett (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) leads the team with 39 goals… Her 2.60 goals per game rank sixth in the conference… Plunkett currently ranks second in the College's single-season record book with 76 draw controls on the year… Senior Courtney Wheeler (Ava, NY/Rome Free Academy) has a career-high 35 goals and 44 points… She ranks seventh all-time in career points (142) and needs just five more to move into sixth place on the College's career list… Wheeler also needs just one more assist to move into a tie for fourth place on the career assists list.
 
HELPING OUT: Four other players have scored at least ten goals on the season… Freshman Katlyn Scarpinella (South Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) is third on the team with 16 goals…  Sophomore Brooke Miller (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) is fourth on the team with 14 goals and she has also dished out a career-high 12 assists… Coleen Dowling and Mary Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) have totaled 12 and 10 goals, respectively.
 
BIG D: Senior Briana Estabrook (Tully, NY/Tully ) leads the team and ranks third in the conference with 2.07 caused turnovers per game… Her 31 caused turnovers this year rank fifth in the College's single-season record books… Junior Maggie Notter (Clifton Springs, NY/Midlakes) is fourth in the E8 with 2.00 caused turnovers per game… As a team, Utica ranks 11^th nationally with 13.40 caused turnovers per game.  
 
SCOUTING NAZ: The Golden Flyers are 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the Empire 8… They are coming off a 13-7 win at Houghton on Wednesday… Naz is led by Haley DeVona, who has a team-high 41 goals and 51 points…  Mackenzie Corbett and Brianna Rizzari have split time in net for Naz… Corbett has an 8.89 goals against average, while Rizzari holds a, 8.94 goals against average and .465 save percentage.
 
AGAINST THE GOLDEN FLYERS: Utica is 0-5 against Naz in the last five years… Last year, the Pioneers fell 11-10 as the Golden Flyers scored the game-winner with just 1:14 remaining in regulation… Courtney Wheeler (Ava, NY/Rome Free Academy) had two goals and one assist, while Rebecca Plunkett (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) netted one goal and one assist.