Utica, NY - The Utica College women's soccer team is slated to start its 2019 season in the Erinn K. Brozman Cup at Hartwick College. This will be a two-game road trip for the Pioneers, where they will face Morrisville State on Friday at 7 p.m. and Keuka College on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Follow Along: Live Video and Stats for this weekend's Brozman Cup will be available. Live video will be located at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hartwick/, and live stats can be found at http://livestats.hartwick.edu/Soccer/WSO1718/xlive.htm. 

A Historic 2018: The Pioneers are coming off one of their most successful seasons in program history, where they finished the season with 10-7-3 overall record and qualified for the Empire 8 tournament for the first time since 2007 with a conference record of 5-2-1. Entering the postseason as the No. 2 overall seed, the Pioneers were scheduled to face the third-seeded Hartwick Hawks. This game was a defensive battle, as it remained scoreless through regulation and extra time. This forced penalty kicks, where Utica won 4-2. The Pioneers advanced to the conference championship to face the top-seeded Stevens Ducks, and finished as the conference runner-up. The Pioneers had a double-digit win total for the first time since 2006. 

Key Returners: The Pioneers return a wealth of experience and talent from 2018, including the team's two top point-scorers in Mikayla Blumenstock (Poland, NY/Poland) and Kierra Caissey (Gardner, MA/Gardner). These two accounted for 60 percent of the goals in 2018, and will lead the offensive attack this year once again. Caissey had a breakout season during her sophomore campaign, totaling eight goals and two assists. Caissey's eight goals crack the top ten all-time at Utica for goals in a single season.  Blumenstock led the team offensively with 27 points as a transfer striker from Herkimer, notching a team-best 12 goals while adding three assists during her junior season. Blumenstock held the key to victory several times last season for the Pioneers, as her six game-winning goals from last year alone already rank fourth on the college's career list and mark a single-season school record in that category. She also had the second-best goal scoring season in school history last year. 

Wagner's A Winner: Three-year starter Allison Wagner (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) returns for her final season in the net for the Pioneers. Wagner has improved her goals allowed average every single year thus far, from 3.30 in 2016 to 1.44 in 2017 to 1.36 in 2018. The Canandaigua, New York native also recorded a career-best seven wins last season. She ranks second in program history with 419 saves, and needs just seven saves to tie the career mark of 426 stops set by Melissa Diana from 1996 to 1998. 

2019 Seniors: The Pioneers graduated five seniors from last season, and will showcase four seniors on this year's roster -- Mikayla Blumenstock (Poland, NY/Poland), Kendrah Stewart (Broadalbin, NY/Broadalbin-Perth), Allison Wagner (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) and Lauren Macdonald. 

Road Trip: The Pioneers start the season with two-straight away games at the Erin K. Brozman Cup at Hartwick College. The first is against the Morrisville State Mustangs, who finished the 2019 season with a 7-11-1 overall record. The team fell just short of a conference tournament appearance, and return all but one player from last season. UC is slated to play Keuka College in the second game of the season-opening tournament. The Wolves had a very successful 2018 campaign, finishing with an overall record of 13-4-1 while going 10-0-1 in conference play. The season fell short, however, as they fell to Penn State Berks in the conference championship. Keuka graduated four seniors from last season. Keuka will be joining the Empire 8 Conference in the near future. 

Fresh Faces: UC welcomes a total of 13 new faces in 2019, and seven of them are freshmen. The freshmen are Shayla Seymour (Uxbridge, MA/Blackstone Valley Regional), Erin Stadler, Olivia Papay (Weymouth, Massachusetts /Archbishop Williams High School), Eliza Ericson (Beacon, NY/Beacon High School), Hope Millets (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall High School), Jenna Keeman (Douglas, MA/Douglas High School) and Alyssa Zarrella (Naugatuck, CT/Naugatuck High School).

The Transfer Window: Utica also brings transfers Avery Crossley (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent High School), Martha Cash (Utica, NY/Proctor High School), Haley Harrington (Munnsville, NY/Stockbridge Valley), Megan Macdonald (Poughquag, NY/Arlington High School), Sydney Cook (Waterville, NY/Waterville High School) and Jacinta Kaminski (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent High School) onto the roster. Cash, Kaminski, Cook, and Crossley teamed up last season at nearby Mohawk Valley Community College, where they won nine games en route to the district finals. Macdonald joins up with Utica after a season at Southern Vermont College. She scored one goal for the Mountaineers in the team's final season. Harrington may vie for time in a midfield that is currently reloading in spots from last season. She had seven goals and five assists for Herkimer College last season as the Generals advanced to the NJCAA national tournament. 

There's a New Sheriff in Town: Brooke Barbuto steps in for her first season on the sideline for Utica College women's soccer, replacing Eileen Blumenauer who recently accepted a full-time assistant coaching position at defending Division III national champion Williams College. Barbuto brings a wealth of knowledge to the program, as she was a four-year starter at Stony Brook and played professionally in Europe for seven years. She has also suited up for the Syracuse Development Academy and the Rochester Lancers.

"I'm thrilled to get going and to meet the team on a deeper level," Barbuto said. "The idea of continuing to build this program for future success and to create a championship culture is really exciting." The Syracuse native spent last season as an assistant coach for SUNY Cortland, and this position marks her second head coaching job. Her first was at Bryant & Stratton College, where she served as head coach for two years.

And A New Deputy: Fellow Syracuse native Caroline Kopp also joins the team as an assistant coach. The 2019 UAlbany graduate was a four-year starter and the first-ever All-Region selection for the Great Danes.

What's Next: Join the Pioneers at Gaetano Stadium on Tuesday, September 3rd as they open their home schedule against Buffalo State. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. and is the first of two home matches scheduled next week for the team.