UTICA,NY- The Utica College men's lacrosse team looks to climb back over .500 against Keuka College Wednesday March 20, the Pioneers face off against the Wolves at 4 p.m at Charles A Gaetano Stadium in a non-conference matchup.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers' last game ended in a win against Castleton University 13-6. The win was a much needed one for the Pioneers to get back on track after dropping two games prior to Marywood and Hamilton. Castleton kept the affair close until the 3rd quarter when Utica put up a five spot in the frame, and the Pioneers shut out the Spartans in the 4th quarter. The Pioneers' top scorers on the day were John Hanlon (Coconut Creek, FL/St. John Paul Academy) and Dale Wagner (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge), Hanlon scored three goals giving him a hat trick and Wagner netted four goals to drive the team to victory. The Pioneers hunted down 41 ground balls in the matchup.

Filling The Cage: The Pioneers top scorers so far in this young season have been on the youthful side. Sophomore Dale Wagner (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge) has been tearing it up on the turf with 14 goals and 3 assists for 17 points. Another notable player having a great start to this season is Freshman John Avery (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford-Mendon) with 10 goals and 3 assists for 13 points.

Breaking Onto The Scene: Dale Wagner's (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge) performance this season has been particularly impressive given how fast his role has expanded with the Pioneers. Last season, he appeared in just two matchups and had no points to his credit before stringing together the first 17 points of his career this season.

At Home: The Pioneers are 1-1 in their two home matches this season. They broke a second half tie with five unanswered goals to beat Potsdam 13-8, then lost to Hamilton in the Contineer Cup game.

Know Your Enemy: Keuka College comes into this game with a 2-1 record and most recently lost to Brockport 14-10. Connor Kupp is a player to keep an eye on, as he is the Wolves top scorer with nine goals and 8 assists for a total of 17 points on the season.

Goalie Matchup: Harrison Bower (Northport, NY/Kings Park) has started in four of six games for the Pioneers playing 218 minutes in the crease with a save percentage of .518 for his senior campaign. Ryan Boshart (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) has also gotten more work recently and has a save percentage of .569 to go with a 1-1 record. On the opposite side the Wolves goaltender, Nikoli Biljanoski has played in three games, playing 142 minutes this season with a save percentage of .648 with a 8.02 goals against average.

Just A Year Ago: Last season, these two team met up at Keuka with the Wolves coming out on top 15-8. The Pioneers are looking for redemption this time around on home turf. 2018 graduates Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) and Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) both led the Pioneer attack in that game. Bratek had 2 goals and Yelich had a hat trick.

Conference Watch: Dylan Dunham (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge) started the season out of the gate ranked 8th in the conference with a 2.67 goals per game average with eight goals on the season. John Hanlon (Coconut Creek, FL/St. John Paul Academy) is also ranked 8th in the Empire 8 for assists per game with 1.50 average. Goalkeeper Harrison Bower (Northport, NY/Kings Park) is ranked 8th in goals against average with an 11.25 average per matchup. He is ranked 5th in saves per game and is making 11 of them per contest.

In The Middle: The Pioneers are the only Empire 8 team to presently sit at a .500 record, with four of the conference team's sitting above .500, and four others sitting below.

Give Me That: The Pioneers presently hold a high ranking mark among the most caused turnovers in a single game among Empire 8 teams. Their 34 caused turnovers in a win over SUNY Poly is second in the conference.

That Was Parisi: Freshman defender Kevin Parisi (Glenwood, NJ/Vernon Township) has fit right in during his rookie season. He is fifth in the conference in ground balls per game and is also fifth in caused turnovers per game.

Special Teams: The Pioneers are sixth in the Empire 8 Conference on the man up at 29.6 percent. Eight of the team's 64 goals have come on the man up situation this season. They've been especially good at killing penalties at the conference's second best percentage of 31.4 percent.

Looking Forward: The Pioneers will travel to Stevens Institute of Technology for their first taste of Empire 8 action. The Ducks are 5-2 on the season and looking strong out of the gate so far. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. faceoff on Saturday, March 23rd.