UTICA, NY – The Utica College women's soccer team will travel to Elmira on Saturday to face the Soaring Eagles in the last conference match of the season at Campus Field. Game time is set for 2 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG: Live video of the match can be found at portal.stretchinternet.com/Elmira, or on the free Empire 8 Conference Apps available on Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV.
WHERE WE SIT: The Pioneers are 9-5-1 this season, and 2-3-1 in the Empire 8 Conference. They are tied for fifth alongside Houghton with seven points, and will need a victory and some help to qualify for the Empire 8 tournament for a second straight year. In addition to a win, they need an Alfred loss or tie against Houghton. Utica and Houghton could end up tied with 10 points if both teams win on Saturday, but Utica has the tiebreaker due to a 3-0 win over Houghton on Sept. 21, and thus would punch their ticket to the tournament on those grounds. A Houghton tie with Alfred would allow the Pioneers to break their tie with Houghton and pull ahead of Alfred in the standings table.
LAST TIME OUT: Senior Mikayla Blumenstock (Poland, NY/Poland) cemented her name in the history books on Wednesday after defeating Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts by a final of 5-0. She netted four goals in the first half before junior Avery Crossley (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent) scored a goal of her own, assisted by teammate Sydney Cook (Waterville, NY/Waterville). Cook had two assists. Allison Wagner (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) picked up the shutout.
RECORD ALERT: Blumenstock's four goal performance breaks the program's single-season goal record as she now has 19, passing Michele Tansey who previously held the record since 1993. Blumenstock is sixteenth in the nation in goal scoring, and is now seven goals clear of her nearest opposition in the race for the Empire 8 goal scoring crown. After Wednesday's performance, she now has 39 points this season, passing Tansey's 37-point season in 1993. With 66 points for her career, she moves to second all-time in just two seasons as a Pioneer.
WALL OF STEEL: Senior Allison Wagner (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) also made history against MCLA as she tied UC's career shutout record with 17 in the last four years. She also recorded her single-season high in shutouts with six this season. This moves Wagner to second in the conference in shutouts as well. Wagner is ranked second in Empire 8 Conference in saves with 101 and a .871 save percentage. She is also ranked fourth in goals against average with a clip of 1.065 per game.
CONFERENCE LEADERS: Aside from Blumenstock and Wagner, Eliza Ericson (Beacon, NY/Beacon) is ranked fourth in the conference in assists with five. Teammate Sydney Cook (Waterville, NY/Waterville) is tied for sixth place with five. Kierra Caissey (Gardner, MA/Gardner) is tied for fifth place in goals with seven.
CONTRIBUTORS: 11 Pioneers have now record at least one assist this season while seven scored at least one goal. Utica has outscored their opponents 32-15.
SCOUTING ELMIRA: The Soaring Eagles are led by Taylor Keane with three goals, six points and 12 shots. Hailey Boris leads the team in assists with three. Keeper Ally Knorr-Anderson has recorded 124 saves so far this year.
HISTORY: The Pioneers have faced the Soaring Eagles 24 times, winning seven games. Utica is currently on a three game winning streak against Elmira which dates back to 2016. The Pioneers prevailed last season by a 7-0 score. Utica has shut Elmira out four times in team history.
UPCOMING: The Pioneers look to clinch a spot in the Empire 8 Conference tournament which is set to start on Wednesday, November 6.
