UTICA, NY - The Utica College women's lacrosse team celebrated the 20th anniversary of the program on Saturday. The festivities included an alumni game as part of the festivities, and the celebration didn't stop once the ball was set for the opening draw in the Pioneers' Empire 8 game against visiting Alfred University. Utica scored eight times on its first ten shots and held an 11-0 lead through eleven minutes of the matchup. The Pioneers never looked back once from that rapid start as they stormed past the Saxons in a 26-0 win at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

The Pioneers set multiple offensive single game records. Utica's 26 goals establish a new school record eclipsing a 25 goal effort against Wells in 2001. Utica also recorded the single largest margin of victory in program history as they won by 26, breaking the school record of 22 that lasted all of ten days. The previous record was set in last week's 22-0 win over the Sage Colleges on March 27th.

The Pioneers improved to 9-2, which marks the best opening eleven game stretch in the history of the program. Utica is also now 3-1 in the Empire 8, their best-ever conference start in the twenty year history of the program. The Pioneers are also now 5-1 at home.

Utica was led by offensively by a pair of five point outings. Noelle Capriglione (New Milford, CT/New Milford) had a career best five points on two goals and three assists for the Pioneers, and Lauren Wolff (Peabody, MA/Peabody) had a goal and four assists. Lexi Scaccia (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) had four points on two goals and two assists. Natalie Capriglione (New Milford, CT/New Milford) had a hat trick, and Katie McDowell (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) scored the first hat trick of her career. Kaitlyn Palmer scored twice and now has 93 career collegiate points. Hannah Nordstrom (Fairhaven, MA/Fairhaven), Sinead Bonner (Staten Island, NY/Curtis), Emily Rossi (Verona, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill), and Brittany Nowak (Eden, NY/Eden) all also had three point outings. Sixteen different Pioneers had a point over the course of the day's proceedings.

Goalkeepers Hali Vandemeulen and Claire Frier (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) combined to pick up the shutout with Frier making three saves to record the win and help Utica pick up the clean sheet.

Utica landed 39 shots on goal to Alfred's three, and the Pioneers controlled 24 of 28 draws. Utica held a 22-7 ground ball advantage and held the Saxons to two clears on eleven attempts while going 3-for-3 themselves.

23 seconds is all it took for the Pioneers to get on the board as freshman Addison Green (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) broke in and scored unassisted. In just under a minute since, Kaitlynn Palmer (Verona, NY/VVS) got involved in the scoring as she notched a pair of goals in the next 54 seconds. Katlyn Scarpinella (South Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) added to Utica's high firepower start with her first goal of the day at 28:14, and from there the Pioneers just picked up continual momentum as they built a huge lead going into halftime. Utica held possession in the offensive half for the first 22 minutes before the Saxons had a chance to hold the ball offensively, and they pounded 28 shots towards the Alfred net on their way to an 18-0 halftime lead.

Natalie Capriglione (New Milford, CT/New Milford) led all scorers at the break with three goals, while Palmer, Sinead Bonner (Staten Island, NY/Curtis), Noelle Capriglione (New Milford, CT/New Milford), and Katie McDowell (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) all had a pair of goals at halftime.

The Pioneers opened their second half scoring when Lexi Scaccia (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) capitalized on a turnover caused by Lauren Wolff (Peabody, MA/Peabody). The pair traded places at 24:51 when Wolff scored her ninth of the year to put Utica up 20-0. The Pioneers got six different goal scorers involved late on their last six goals as Kristin Kreig, Katie McDowell (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park), Emily Rossi (Verona, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill), Brianna Colley (Staten Island, NY/Petrides) and Hannah Nordstrom (Fairhaven, MA/Fairhaven) each recorded goals, and Kelsey Trainor (Wallkill, NY/Valley Central) scored her first career collegiate goal as the Pioneers rolled to a record-setting performance.

The Pioneers will be on the road for their biggest game of the season to date as they challenge Empire 8 leader St. John Fisher at Growney Stadium in Pittsford, NY. Match time is scheduled for 4 p.m.