UTICA, NY – The Utica College women's soccer team will travel to Albany Saturday in a conference showdown against The Sage Colleges. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m, and the match will take place at the Albany College of Pharmacy Athletic Complex.
FOLLOW ALONG: Live Video and Stats will be provided courtesy of the Athletic Communications office at the Sage Colleges.
LAST TIME OUT: In their last match, the Pioneers recorded a 3-0 conference win over the Houghton Highlanders. The team got a pair of goals from Mikayla Blumenstock (Poland, NY/Poland), and a lid-lifting strike from Carly Craft (Ellenville, NY/Ellenville) in the victory. The win moves their record to 6-2 on the year. The last time the Pioneers started the year off 6-2 was back in 2012.
KEEPING COUNT: Utica is averaging 2.37 goals per match to rank second in the Empire 8 conference, and they are conceding .88 goals per match to tie for the third best average in the Empire 8. The Pioneers are one of four teams to allow less than one goal per match. The squad is second in scoring margin at 1.50 goals per match. The Pioneers are the lone club in the conference to be perfect on penalty kick opportunities as they converted their lone chance early in the season.
THE BLUMENSTOCK BUZZ: Senior striker Mikayla Blumenstock (Poland, NY/Poland) leads this Pioneers team in almost every category as she continues to display her dominance on the pitch. She is tied for the conference lead with eight goals, and leads the conference with 17 points on the year. She is ranked second in the conference in shots with 26. Blumenstock led the team with 12 goals last season. Through eight games, she already has eight goals, four shy of her mark set last season.
WAGNER FRONTS THE WOODWORK: Senior goalkeeper Allison Wagner (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) continues to stay in form as she is ranked first in the conference in saves at 76. Her save percentage of .916 is ranked nineteenth in the nation. She has a convincing conference lead in save percentage. She is the reigning Empire 8 Conference Defensive Player of the Week after a career-high 20 saves against Hamilton, and a subsequent clean sheet against Houghton over the weekend. She participated in a team shutout streak of over 400 minutes that spanned from last year's E8 title match to the match against Potsdam earlier this season.
WHO TO WATCH: Junior Summer Gagnon (Manchester, NH/Manchester) has delivered exceptional passing into the attacking areas this season as she leads the team with three assists while also being an unsolvable center back at the other end. Junior Kierra Caissey (Gardner, MA/Gardner) will look to capitalize on those assists as the Pioneers' mainstay midfielder has scored six times this season.
SCOUTING SAGE: The 4-3 Gators are led by junior Lydia Malkiewicz with four goals and eight points on the year. Sophomore Natalie Ricci is right behind Malkiewicz with three goals and nine points on the year. The history of these two teams meeting dates back to 1994 with both teams sharing a split record of 6-6. They have been conference opponents for just two years, with Sage winning both Empire 8 meetings in 2017 and 2018.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Pioneers will host Hartwick College this Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. Game time starts at 12:00 p.m.
