UTICA, NY - The Utica College women's hockey team opens up winter break competition and the 2019 calendar year with conference play as it hosts Manhattanville in a rare weekday UCHC series on Tuesday, January 8th, and Wednesday, January 9th. The Pioneers and Valiants enter the pivotal conference series undefeated in conference play. Game times are scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, and 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

Follow Along: Live video and stats for all UC Home Games are available at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. In addition, radio coverage of Tuesday's game is available on WPNR 90.7 FM and PioneerRadio.org. Sports Information Assistant Ray Biggs '13 brings fans the play-by-play, and will be joined by UC students Rob Stevens and David Cooney this week. Fans can also view home games optimized for television viewing on the free Empire 8 apps available for Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV.

Last Time Out: Utica rallied out of a 4-1 hole and trimmed the deficit to one goal against one of the nation's top programs, but the comeback fell just short against then-No. 6 Middlebury by a 4-3 score at the Aud to wrap up the Fall semester. The Pioneers spotted a 3-0 lead to the Panthers in the first 14:18 of the contest before getting a fast answer 49 seconds after the third Middlebury goal on a tally by sophomore Lexi Stanisewski (Lawrence, MA/Boston Shamrocks) to make the score 3-1 after one period. The hole got deeper in the second when Middlebury's Kat Shuchuk notched an even strength goal at 11:39 of the frame, but Utica again offered a rebuttal before the end of the period to hold the deficit at two as blue liner Kayla Dion (Colchester, VT/Boston Shamrocks) torched a point shot on the power play that got through to goaltender Lin Han and zipped past the veteran netminder to create a 4-2 score after 40 minutes. Utica's Maddie Paydos (Simsbury, CT/Vermont Academy) scored in the third to put Utica on the doorstep of a tie game, but the Panthers held up well and limited the Pioneers' pressure to just five third period shots as they escaped with the win. Dion guided the Utica effort with a goal and an assist and goaltender Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) made 31 saves on 35 shots. The Pioneers scored on their only power play chance of the day.

Where We Stand: The Pioneers enter the mid-week series with a 9-2 overall record. That mark includes a program-best 9-0 start, but Utica has lost its last two games to Middlebury and Morrisville. Both losses have come to teams that competed in the 2018 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championships. Utica is undefeated in conference play at 6-0 to stand in a three-way tie for second in the UCHC with twelve points, and they hold two games in hand on first place William Smith, who leads the pack with 16 standings points. Manhattanville sits just one point back with 11 points in the fifth position through six UCHC games played. This week's games could be significant in determining home ice in the first round of the UCHC playoffs and/or a possible bye into the semifinals for either team at the end of the season, although there is plenty of standings traffic left to navigate with Elmira, William Smith, and Nazareth also heavily in the mix to occupy the top four spots in the conference to earn the bye or home ice.

The Series: This will be the tenth all-time meeting between Utica and Manhattanville in a series that began between the women's programs in the 2003-04 season. Although their men's programs have a long and storied conference rivalry, this marks only the second season that the Pioneers and Valiants will meet as conference opponents in the UCHC. Previously, the Manhattanville women were in the New England Hockey Conference and its predecessor, the ECAC East. Manhattanville leads the series 5-3-1 all-time, but the Pioneers have limited the Valiants to just one win in the last five meetings after Manhattanville won the first four meetings from the 2003-04 season to the 2011-12 season. Last season, the two teams split a three game regular season series across the board with one win apiece to go with a 0-0 tie. Manhattanville got their win on the road at Utica in a November non-conference game by a 4-1 score. The teams posted their scoreless tie at 0-0 in a UCHC game in Rye, NY on February 2nd, and Utica prevailed 3-1 in the season series finale in Westchester the following day. Class of 2018 members Taylor Osowski (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects), Kelly Critzer (West Salem, OH/Ohio Flames), and Carlie Smith (Grimsby, Ontario/St. Catharine's Chaos) all scored in Utica's 3-1 win.

Better Bring The Goals: When evaluating the trends in the all-time series, the Pioneers will likely need to bring at least two goals to the table each day to win one or both games in what has been a very defensively oriented matchup historically. Non-winning teams have been held to a goal or less in the last eight meetings in the series dating back to the 2004-05 season, and the lone tie in the history of the series ended scoreless.

Big Time Offenses: Both teams enter the series with the ability to put up big numbers on the scoreboard as they both stand in the top 11 nationally in team scoring offense. The Pioneers are seventh in the nation in scoring offense at an average of 4.09 goals per game, and the Valiants aren't far behind at 3.58 goals per game.

Winning Big: Utica has been winning many of their games by fairly significant margins as they rank eighth in the nation in scoring margin by an average of 2.55 goals per game. They are 7-1 when the game is decided by two goals or more, and 2-1 in one goal games this season. There are five UCHC teams in the top 11 nationally in that category.

A Leap For Lexi: In the season following her UCHC All-Rookie team selection, sophomore forward Lexi Stanisewski (Lawrence, MA/Boston Shamrocks) has had no issue taking her game to another level so far this season. Her team-leading 14 points at the break tie her total output from her freshman season, and she presently carries the exact same season scoring line this season of five goals and nine assists that she held at the end of her freshman season. She has a point in seven of her last eight games and is 26th nationally in points per game.

The Colorado Connection: Colorado residents Rebecca Brown (Steamboat Springs, CO/Norwich University) and Elizabeth Dohner (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects) are also both off to strong starts this season as they are two of the three players standing second on the team in total points with 12. Both players have put together a balanced showing this season with six goals and six assists. Dohner has a power play goal and is Utica's active career points leader with 60. They are tied for 45th in the nation in goals per game.

The Rookie: Freshman Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School) has been producing over a point per game since jumping into the lineup this fall. Her average of 1.08 points per game is good enough for 11th in the UCHC in points per game by a freshman.

Reilly Has Their Number: Junior goaltender Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) has again re-asserted herself into the starting goaltender position for Utica so far this season, posting a 7-1 record in eight starts with a 93.1 percent save percentage and a goals against average of just 1.38 and two of her four career shutouts. She has been very good against Manhattanville with a 1-0-1 record in two appearances with one shutout, and has allowed just one goal on 50 shots while helping Utica kill off nine power plays in two conference games against the Valiants.

Flying Solo: Senior defender Danielle Haasbeek (Grand Forks, ND/Balmoral Hall) is the lone player on Utica's current roster to have a goal in their career against Manhattanville. Haasbeek has been limited to just two games so far this season and has not been able to appear since an October win over New England College

Experience Matters: Junior forward Rebecca Brown (Steamboat Springs, CO/Norwich University) holds the team lead in career games played against Manhattanville and is anticipated to make her fifth career appearance against the Valiants on Tuesday. Brown appeared in all three games the Pioneers played against Manhattanville last season, and added a fourth as a Norwich University freshman.

About the Valiants: Manhattanville will enter this week's series at 8-2-2, and 5-0-1 in UCHC play under head coach David Turco. They are led by junior Amanda Sabia and senior Nicole Mensi. Sabia leads the team with 18 points on a team-best ten goals along with eight assists. Mensi has nine goals and seven assists for sixteen points and is the Valiants' active career leader with 67 career points. Senior goaltender Rose Pijaca is 5-2-2 with a save percentage of 93 percent and a goals against average of 1.64 goals allowed per game and the team is allowing just 1.42 goals per game. They finished third over the weekend at the Catamount Radio Invitational where they tied Endicott and lost in a shootout, and defeated Castleton in the consolation game by a 2-1 score.

Up Next: Utica will be on the road for the first pair of a four game road trip as they visit Lebanon Valley on Friday and Saturday.