ASTON, PA- The Utica College women's hockey team scored three unanswered goals, including two in the third period to down host Neumann University 5-2 in ECAC West Conference action Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Pioneers are now 4-1-1 in their last six games and UC improves to 13-8-1 overall and 8-6-1 in the conference.  Utica will travel to SUNY Potsdam on Tuesday for a showdown with the Bears, who are right below the Pioneers in the conference standings, with a game in hand.
 
For the second day in a row, the home team got on the board first, this time at 2:49 of the opening period as Steph Grundy fired a shot from the point that beat Utica goalie Keira Goin (Dobbs Ferry, NY/Hotchkiss School) for her second of the year.  Jordyn Cholish and Lauren Vanstone assisted on Neumann's opening goal. 
 
The Pioneers responded at 8:56 of the first period as junior Carlie Smith (Grimsby, Ontario/St. Catharine's Chaos) netted her second of the weekend, assisted by sophomore Jennifer Liu (North Saanich, British Columbia/Shaftesbury Titans ).
 
Neumann once again took a one-goal lead at 18:12 as Grundy scored on the power play for her second of the day. Smith again responded, this time just 46 seconds later as she put in her fourth of the year, assisted by Lauren Patterson (Burlington, Ontario/Oakville). 
 
The Pioneers controlled the majority of the play in the second period and were finally rewarded at 18:24 as senior Jane Pagano (Erie, PA/Tabor Academy) put in a rebound off a Danielle Haasbeek (Grand Forks, ND/Balmoral Hall) shot for her third of the weekend.  Smith also added a secondary assist on Pagano's team-leading ninth of the season, to give Utica its first lead of the game.
 
A pair of third period goals by Gabrielle Schnepp (Northville, MI/Belle Tire) and Taylor Osowski (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects) sealed the deal as Utica cruised to its second conference sweep in as many weeks.  Elizabeth Dohner (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects) registered an assist on both goals in the final frame, while Schnepp and Osowski had secondary assists on each other's scores. 
 
Schnepp is now tied with Megan Myers '14 for third on the College's career assist list, with 69.  She also needs just one more point to move into a tie with 2016 graduate Morgan Reed (Fort Myers, FL/Cushing Academy) for fourth on the program's career scoring list (111 points). 
 
Utica was 2-for-7 on the power play, while the Knights were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.  Goin made 17 saves in the win, while Neumann's Julia Fair has 41 saves.