UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team will host the Nazareth Golden Flyers on Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium for an Empire 8 Conference showdown beginning at 1 p.m. Both the Pioneers and Golden Flyers have a 2-3 record in the conference and are currently tied for the fifth spot in the conference. The top four teams in the conference will play in Empire 8 Conference tournament, meaning this is a must win game for both teams.

Looking to bounce back: The Pioneers are 1-2 in their last three games after beating SUNY Poly and then losing back to back games to St. John Fisher and Hartwick. The Pioneers will be relying on senior Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) who currently leads the Pioneers and the E8 with 41 goals this season. Desveaux, who recently scored his 100^th career goal against Hartwick, is averaging 3.15 goals per game which is tops in the Empire 8.

On The Attack: Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic), Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew), Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) and John Hanlon (Coconut Creek, FL/St. John Paul Academy) look to lead the Pioneers offensively against the Golden Flyers. Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) currently has 20 goals this season which is second best on the team, behind Desveaux. Yelich, and Hanlon both lead the team in assists with 14 on the season and both are averaging 1.08 assists per game, which is best for eighth in the conference. Bratek is also contributing to the offense with 18 goals on the season and 13 assists. He is averaging 1.18 assists per game which is fourth best in the Empire 8.

Standout Goalie: Utica looks to keep the Golden Flyers off the scoreboard with freshman goalie Ryan Boshart (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius), who has been solid between the pipes all year. The Pioneers currently lead the Empire 8 in saves with 191 on the season. The next best is Stevens with only 149 saves. Boshart has helped lead the Pioneers in saves by tallying a 11.87 goals against average which ranks seventh in the conference. Boshart is currently sporting a .574 saves percentage which is the fourth best in the conference. He is also averaging about nine saves per game which puts him at fifth in the Empire 8.

Lockdown Defenders: Utica freshman Nick Alexander (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) is having an outstanding rookie season and leads the team with 54 ground balls.  He also ranks second on the team with 16 caused turnovers. Matt Fedullo (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) leads UC with 23 caused turnovers and he also has 22 ground balls.

Scouting Nazareth: The Golden Flyers own a 4-11 overall record and are 2-3 in conference play. Nazareth is currently on a two game losing streak after dropping back to back games to Alfred, and St. John Fisher. Alex Winkler, a goalie for Nazareth, is averaging 11.60 goals against per game, which puts him at fifth best in the conference.

Looking Ahead: The Pioneers will take on Alfred next Saturday at home in what will be their last Empire 8 matchup of the 2018 regular season.