ROCHESTER, NY- The Utica College women's hockey team avenged last season's sweep at the hands of Nazareth College as it skated to a 4-1 win over the Golden Flyers in the UCHC Conference opener Tuesday evening.
 
Utica's freshmen set the tone in this one as all four goals were scored by first year players.  Abby Lillis (West Seneca, NY/Buffalo Bisons) got things going at 8:02 of the first period when she put in an unassisted tally for the first of her career. 
 
The Pioneers tacked on another score at 12:27 of the first as Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School) buried a rebound for her first collegiate goal, off assists from freshman Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) and sophomore Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School).
 
Utica added an insurance tally at 15:30 of the second stanza, this time off the stick of Sloan to give the Pioneers a commanding 3-0 lead.  Sloan took a breakout feed from senior Rebecca Brown (Steamboat Springs, CO/Norwich University) and skated it down the ice.  Just over the Golden Flyer blue line, Sloan used the defender as a screen and fired a shot that fooled Naz goalie Adrianna Brehm for her first collegiate goal.
 
Nazareth got one back just 1:33 into the third period, but Sloan capped off the scoring with 25 seconds left as she scored an empty net tally for her second of the evening.
 
Nazareth peppered the Utica goal outshooting the Pioneers 19-5 in the third period, but senior Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) held strong, finishing with a career-high 43 saves on the evening.  Brehm meanwhile made 23 saves in the loss. 
 
Utica improves to 1-1 (1-0 UCHC) on the season while Naz suffers its first loss of the year, falling to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in the UCHC.  The Pioneers return to action this weekend with a road trip to UCHC foes Kings College and Wilkes University on Friday and Saturday, respectively.  Friday's game it set for a 7 p.m. face off, while Saturday's tilt will begin at 3:30 p.m.