UTICA, NY — The Utica College men's lacrosse team heads to Oswego on Wednesday to take on the Lakers in a non-conference contest at 4 p.m.
 
Current Record: The Pioneers have won three of their last four games and currently hold a 3-3 overall record to go along with a 1-0 ledger in Empire 8 play.   
 
Last Time Out: Utica opened up conference play on the road against the Highlanders of Houghton College on Saturday. In a 15-9 victory for the Pioneers, they went into half time up 7-2 behind two back-to-back goals from junior Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt). In the second half UC went up as many as eight goals to earn a solid cushion en route to their conference opener victory. Senior Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) scored four goals to the lead the Pioneers, while Bratek scored three goals and added one assist for a total of four points. Junior midfielder John Hanlon (Coconut Creek, FL/St. John Paul Academy) scored five points on the afternoon with a goal and four assists. Utica evenly split time in goal as Harrison Bower (Northport, NY/Kings Park), Ryan Boshart (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius), Brad Schulman (Airmont, NY/Suffern) and Dylan Allen (Rome, NY/Holland Patent) combined for eight saves in the win. Bower earned the win in between the pipes for Utica.
 
Senior Scorer: Utica College Male Athlete of the Week Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) currently has a total of 16 points on the year, all coming from his team-high 16 goals this season. His goals per game average of 2.67 currently ranks second in the conference behind Stevens Institute of Technology's Ryan Gebhardt (2.75). In his last game he scored his 100th career point. He currently ranks 11th on the all-time career points list and fifth in career goals (80).
 
Depth Between the Pipes: The Pioneers have displayed this season that they have multiple weapons in the goalkeeping circle. Junior Harrison Bower (Northport, NY/Kings Park) has a record of 2-3 this season and leads all goalies with 240 minutes played and 56 saves. Ryan Boshart (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) has had 75 minutes of action this season and earned a win to go along with 31 saves, including a school-record 28 save effort against Alvernia. Allen has had 15 minutes of action thus far in his young career and has two saves. Schulman has played 30 minutes and has five total saves.
 
Bratek and Yelich in Conference Rankings: Bratek and senior attack Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) are amongst the leaders in multiple categories in the Empire 8 individual rankings this season. With a 2.00 goals per game average, Bratek is currently ranked at No. 9, while Yelich's 1.17 assists per game average ranks him ninth. The two both appear in the top 10 in points per game. Yelich is ninth with an average of 2.83 and Bratek sits in tenth with an average of 2.76.
 
Scouting Oswego: The Lakers of Oswego are 5-1 this season and are undefeated at home. They scored over 10 goals in four of their five wins so far. Their only loss came against Ithaca College by a score of 14-5. The Lakers are led by sophomore attack Kyle Bacon who has a total of 20 points this season, including 16 goals and four assists. Nationally, the sophomore ranks in the top 50 in shot percentage (0.485.)
 
Last Time Against the Lakers: The last time these two teams met, the Pioneers came away with a 12-10 victory at Gaetano Stadium in 2017. Desveaux led the way for the Pioneers with five goals and an assist in the win.
 
Looking Ahead: The Pioneers return to conference play as they host the Soaring Eagles of Elmira College on Saturday at the friendly confines of Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.