UTICA, NY - The Utica College women's ice hockey team will be hungry to get back into the win column as they prepare to feast on non-conference play this weekend. The Pioneers start off a string of five consecutive non-conference games as they head to Amherst College on Saturday, November 30th for a 2 p.m. start. They then return home on Sunday, December 1st for a duel with Castleton University, with the puck dropping at 3 p.m. at the Adirondack Bank Center at Utica Memorial Auditorium.

Follow Along: Live video and stats will be made available for both games this weekend. Saturday's game will be streamed by the Northeast Sports Network at NSNSports.net, with Hugh Campbell on the call. Sunday's game is available through UCPioneers.com at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. Sports information assistant Ray Biggs '13 will have the call on Sunday's home game.

The Series With Amherst: This will be the seventh all-time meeting with the Mammoths. Utica leads the all-time series 3-2-1. The teams first met in 2004 and skated to a 3-3 tie. The last meeting occurred in December of 2012, with a first period goal propelling Amherst to a 1-0 win in Utica. This will be the second straight meeting in Utica.

The Series With Castleton: This will be the fifth all-time meeting with the Spartans. Utica has won all four meetings by scores of 10-2, 3-0, 10-0, and 2-0. The teams last met in October of 2011, with Utica outshooting the Spartans 41-10 en route to a 2-0 victory behind a shutout by Jenni Hamel. In the 2010 meeting, the Spartans were coached by one of Utica's own, as original Pioneer Bethany Torrice (Trout) was behind the bench at the time as Castleton's head coach.

Where We Are: The Pioneers are 3-3, and 3-2 in UCHC play after this weekend's games. They occupy the third spot in the North Division with six points, and are just two points back of co-leaders Elmira and Nazareth.

Over The Weekend: The Pioneers dropped both games of a big UCHC weekend set against the two teams to meet in the conference tournament finals from last year. Utica lost a 1-0 heartbreaker at the hands of William Smith on Friday, with Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) making 24 saves on 25 shots for Utica. On Saturday, the Pioneers were overpowered by No. 3 Elmira, who pulled away to a 7-0 win.

Talking Turkey: The Pioneers have won their last two Thanksgiving Weekend games after playing Hamilton once in each of the past two years. Last year, Utica won 3-2 in a road game against the Continentals, with Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) making 35 saves and Olivia Hirschy (Fort Wayne, IN/Culver Academies) scoring a pair of goals that included the game-winner. In 2017, Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) made her first career start and outdueled All-American goaltender Sam Walther with a 26 save shutout as the Pioneers blanked Hamilton 3-0. Lexi Stanisewski (Lawrence, MA/Boston Shamrocks) had two assists in that game. Utica's last Thanksgiving week losses came in 2016, when the Pioneers played nationally ranked teams Middlebury and Adrian at the prestigious Cardinal-Panther Classic.

There's No Sloan Her Down: Freshman Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) leads the team with eight points while also recording team highs in goals and assists so far this season. Last week's UCHC Player of the Week, Sloan was instrumental in guiding Utica to its three wins so far this season. She is currently in a tie for second among rookies nationally at 1.33 points per game.

Keeping The Streak Alive: Junior forward Lexi Stansiewski has been in the lineup for every game of her collegiate career, and hit the 60 games played mark for her career last Saturday in the loss to Elmira. She competed in 27 games as a rookie, and 26 last season as the season ended in the UCHC quarterfinals. She has 40 points on 13 goals and 27 assists in her career.

Even Money: The Pioneers have scored 18 goals this season, and have also conceded 18 up to this point. Their goals for, and against averages of 3.00 are ranked 17th offensively, and 46th defensively.

The Youth Movement: Of the eighteen goals the team has scored, thirteen have come from the team's freshman class. The team's only individual multi-goal performances in a single game this season have come from the first year players on the team. Utica has three rookies in the top 50 nationally in points per game among their cohort, with Sloan in second, and Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School) and Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) tied for 45th at 0.67 points per game. Whitney and Rylott have three goals apiece. Morgan Leib (Farmington Hills, MI/Little Caesars) has scored a pair of goals this season, and Abby Lillis (West Seneca, NY/Buffalo Bisons) has also taken care of her first career goal.

Penalty Killing Remains Exceptional: The Utica penalty kill unit performed well all weekend while being routinely tested. Over the weekend, the Pioneers had to bring out their penalty killing unit sixteen times, including multiple 5-on-3 advantages for the opponents. Despite those challenges, the Pioneers allowed just a single goal. Utica is now 12th in the nation at 94.1 percent on the penalty kill.

The Goalie Tandem: Senior netminder Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) is 2-2 this season with a goals allowed average of 2.41, and a save percentage totaling 91.7 percent. Sophomore Savannah Gutierrez (Huntington Beach, CA/Anaheim Lady Ducks) is 1-1 with a 4.05 goals against average, and a save percentage of 85.9 percent while making two starts. Reilly is chasing her 20th career victory this weekend. Seven of her nineteen career wins have come by way of shutout.

About Castleton: The Spartans are 5-3-0 this season, and continue to show great progress under head coach Mike Venezia, who formerly assisted UC Women's Hockey alumna Melissa Lomanto at Morrisville. Courtney Gauthier leads the Spartans with six points, and has piled up three goals and three assists. Four other Spartans have totaled three goals each. Senior forward Samantha Munroe has five assists. Alexis Kalm is the team's primary netminder and has gotten the decision in all eight games the team has played with a 5-3 record. The Spartans are averaging 2.50 goals per game. Of local interest is reserve goalkeeper Jessie Foote, who is from Westmoreland.

About Amherst: Amherst is 1-2-1 to start the season under head coach Jeff Matthews, now in his eighth season with the team. Freshman Jillian Mazzoca is off to a flying start with four points on three goals and an assist. Sophomore Caitlin Walker is the likely starter on Saturday, and has a 1-2-1 record while playing all of their minutes in goal. The team tied and lost against nationally-ranked Middlebury over the weekend, and previously hosted Hamilton to a weekend split against the Continentals.

Up Next: Utica will meet Middlebury in a non-conference game on December 7th.