UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's soccer team kicks off its 2016 campaign on Thursday night when the Pioneers travel to Union College to take on the Dutchmen at 7 p.m. in the first night of the Union Soccer Classic.

Follow the Opener Live: If you can't make it out to the game, fans can follow along online via live stats courtesy of the Union College Athletics Communications Department: http://www.sidearmstats.com/union/msoc/.

Quick Look Back: UC posted a 5-13 overall record in 2015 and went 1-6 in the highly competitive Empire 8 Conference ... Four of the Pioneers five victories in 2015 came at the friendly confines of Charles A. Gaetano Stadium … Utica returns three of its top four scorers from a year ago … Junior Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia) is the Pioneers top returning scorer after posting 11 points on three goals and five assists in just 11 games played last season … Sophomore Peyton LaReaux (Utica, NY/T.R. Proctor) looks to build on a successful freshman campaign that included three goals and two assists, while senior defender Patrick Claffey (Burlington, CT/Lewis Mills) hopes to once again be a threat moving forward after posting two goals and two assists in 16 games last year. 

Schedule Highlights: The Pioneers 2016 schedule features seven home games and nine road contests … UC's home opener is on September 10^th when it hosts Maritime College in the opening round of the Utica College Invitational … Utica opens up Empire 8 play on the road at Elmira College on September 17^th and they will play seven conference games, with hopes of qualifying for the Empire 8 Conference Tournament for the sixth time in the last ten seasons … The Pioneers have developed a rich history of earning one of the top four spots in the conference tournament after making appearances in '07, '08, '10, '13 and '14.

Season Opening Success: Utica has won three of its last five season openers … The Pioneers dropped a tough 2-1 decision against a talented Hobart squad in last year's season opener at Gaetano Stadium … Utica has outscored its opponents 13-5 over the course of its last five season openers. 

Experience Leading the Way: Senior tri-captains Patrick Claffey (Burlington, CT/Lewis Mills), Matt Beljan (Bedminster, PA/Christopher Dock) and Owen Gillam (Bristol, CT/Bristol) will wear the arm bands this year as the Pioneers most experienced trio … Beljan leads the team with 48 career caps and he tied for the team lead with 1313 minutes played last season … Claffey has played in 44 career games for Utica and Gillam has participated in 26, including 15 last season alone.

Former Rookie of the Year: 2014 Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Year Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia) returns for his junior season with hopes of continuing to climb the College's all-time record books … He currently ranks sixth all-time with 12 career assists and needs ten more assists in his final two seasons to tie the school-record of 22 which is currently held by Evan Dufault '07 … Gazashvili also needs just two more points to move into the top ten all-time for career points scored … He currently has 26 career points headed into his junior season.

Last Line of Defense: Junior goalie Matthew Milograno (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) returns to the net for the Pioneers this season after playing in nine games and starting eight in 2015 … Milograno split time between the posts with Nick Hallett (Adams, NY/South Jefferson CSD) last season and stopped 45 shots … In his first start of the 2015 season he shut out Cazenovia, 6-0 … Utica expects first year players Austyn Diller (Tappan, NY/Tappan Zee ), Jake Smith (Canadensis, PA/Pocono Mountain East ) and Roman Khorolskyi (Ukraine/Kyiv National) to provide depth at the keeper position … Sophomore Connor Nolte (Cohoes, NY/Shaker) played in 17 games on the defensive end as a freshman, and providing depth to the back line will be Garrett Bortiatynski (Rome, NY/Holland Patent).

Up Top: Utica will continue to move Ricky Drake (Clifton Park, NY/Catholic Central) forward on the pitch as he joins forces with senior Marcel Dupuis (Hannacroix, NY/Greenville) and classmate Dzenan Racic (Utica, NY/Proctor) to keep the pressure on opposing goaltenders … Drake, Racic and Dupuis will have their hands full as they try to fill the void left by graduate and all-time leading scorer Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough), who exhausted his final year of eligibility in 2015. 

Midfield is Deep: Senior Joseph Hunter (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth-Whitemarsh), junior Jordan Smith (Tolland, CT/Tolland), and sophomores Joseph Contreras (Bronx, NY/Cardinal Spellman), Julian Fonseca (Rocky Hill, CT/Bridgton), Calvin Mends (Accra, Ghana/Tema International High School), Enock Bunyon (Accra, Ghana/Adisadel) and Nicolas Diaz (Commack, NY/Commack) look to add depth to the middle of the pitch for the Pioneers … Fonseca played in 17 games last season and distributed two assists, while Hunter played in 16 games and posted one helper … Diaz played in nine games last season and netted his first collegiate tally against Cazenovia in a Pioneer victory.

New Faces: The Pioneers will welcome 11 new faces to the club this season … Cheick Tounkara (Bronx, NY), Connor Herbst (Macedon, NY/Palmyra-Macedon), Salvatore Cabibbo (Port Chester, NY/Port Chester) and Anthony LaGatta (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) are listed as defenders, while Randy Malek (Tampa, FL/Alonso ), Thomas Muller (Camillus, NY/Bishop Ludden), Luke Tantillo (Clinton, NY/Clinton) and Jerry Htoo (Utica, NY/Proctor) make up the cohort of forwards and midfielders in their first collegiate season for the Pioneers.

What Does History Tell Us About the Matchup?: The Pioneers are 1-1 against Union in their two most recent meetings … Back in 2008, Utica won a 1-0 overtime thriller at home against the Dutchmen when alum Jon Wood struck home the game-winner with 8:25 to go in double-overtime … The last time these two teams met, host Union topped the Pioneers, 1-0 back in 2011.

Meet Union: Thursday night will also be the season opener for Union College, which went 10-4-4 overall last season, including a 3-2-3 ledger in Liberty League play … Senior Andrew Fontaine captained the Dutchmen last season and returns for his final year after posting two goals and eight assists in 2015 … Junior Ethan Strauss will also look to build upon a sophomore campaign that featured six goals and one assist. 

Get The App: Utica Athletics recently launched a fan rewards program to promote fan engagement for all 26 of UC's intercollegiate sports… Powered by SuperFanU, the "Pioneer Pride Points" Fan Rewards app uses GPS tracking to recognize where fans are located at specified home games… Points are earned by attending and "Checking In" to UC athletics games, participating in a variety of contests and interacting with social media platforms through the app… The app is available on all IPhone and Android devices by searching 'Pioneer Pride Points' in the Apple App Store or GooglePlay Market and is free to all Utica College students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and fans.