UTICA, NY - The Utica College women's ice hockey team seeks a return to winning form in the new year as they host SUNY Canton in a non-conference game on Wednesday, January 8th. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Admission is free of charge. 

Follow Along: Live video and stats for the game will be available at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. Sports Information Assistant Ray Biggs '13 is back for a ninth season with the Pioneers as the team's primary play-by-play announcer. Home games, along with road contests at Elmira and Nazareth, can be viewed via the free Empire 8 Conference app available for Roku, AppleTV, and Amazon Fire devices.

Where We Stand: The Pioneers are 3-6 overall, and 3-2 in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference this season. They are presently on a five game skid against one of the most challenging schedules in the country, with national powers Elmira, Amherst, and Middlebury all playing against Utica in that span.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers last played a game on December 10th against Castleton. In a game that was rescheduled from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the Pioneers and Spartans skated to overtime. Castleton's Brooke Greenwood scored the extra session winner to propel the Spartans to a 2-1 win. Olivia Hirschy (Fort Wayne, IN/Culver Academies) forced overtime with a power play goal in the third period for Utica after the Spartans took a 1-0 lead in the dying moments of the second period. The Pioneers outshot the Spartans 37-27 in the contest. Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) made 25 saves in goal for Utica. Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) and Sirena Fitzery (Hamburg, NY/Buffalo Bisons) had assists in the game.

There And Back Again: Following Utica's home game on Wednesday, the Pioneers will play four consecutive road games from January 11th to 19th. When the Pioneers return home for a non-conference game against Hamilton on January 21st, they will embark on an astonishing nine game home stand. Utica will play nine of its final eleven games of the regular season at home.

Establishing Leverage: The Pioneers are 3-0 when scoring the first goal of the game, and are 2-0 when holding the lead after the conclusion of the first period of play.

Rookie Rumblings: 14 of the team's 20 goals this season have come from freshmen.  Forward Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) currently sets the team pace for the Pioneers with nine total points. She has a team leading five goals to go with four assists. She is one of thirteen rookies in the country to average a point per game or better currently. Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) and Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School) have three goals apiece. Morgan Leib (Farmington Hills, MI/Little Caesars) has scored a pair of goals, including the team's first goal of the season in the season opener.

Dishing It Out: As a sophomore, Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School) sits second on the team with six points, including five assists. Her assist total leads the team this season. She now has seventeen career assists, which is tied for third on the active roster alongside Kyra Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Holderness). Rebecca Brown (Steamboat Springs, CO/Norwich University) and Lexi Stanisewski (Lawrence, MA/Boston Shamrocks) have 27 career assists to occupy the active lead.

Continuity Matters: Sixteen skaters have played in all nine games for Utica so far this season.

20 in 2020: The next win for senior goaltender Bria Reilly (Hamden, CT/Brewster Academy) will be the 20th of her career. Her 19 victories are currently rank sixth all-time in the program's record books. She has a career record of 19-14-2 with seven shutouts. She is tied for fifth in school history in career shutouts, and needs just one more to tie Jenni Hamel for fourth all-time.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: Senior forward Olivia Hirschy (Fort Wayne, IN/Culver Academies) has five game-winning goals in her career, and needs one more to crack the top ten in career game-winning goals at Utica.

Against The Roos: This will be the ninth meeting between Utica and Canton. The Pioneers are 8-0 against the Roos in the all-time series, averaging 3.88 goals per game. This will be the first regular season meeting between the two sides since November of 2017, when UC recorded a 4-1 win in a Tuesday night game. Samantha Husak (Jackson, MI/Belle Tire), Carlie Smith (Grimsby, Ontario/St. Catharine's Chaos), Elizabeth Dohner (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects), and Meghan Power (Windsor, Ontario/Southwest Wildcats) had goals in the matchup, while the squad outshot the Roos 30-15. The Pioneers still have five players on their active roster that dressed for that contest.

About Canton: The Roos are 2-7-1 under the guidance of head coach Dave LaBaff this season. Sophomore Sarah Kosnaskie leads Canton with five points on four goals and an assist. Freshman defender Verity Lewis has a goal and three assists. Canton averages just 1.40 goals per game. Senior Brooke Susac and freshman Sirena Alvarez have split time in goal for Canton this season, with Alvarez recording both of the team's victories. Alvarez is 2-2-1 with a 1.95 goals allowed average. 

Up Next: The Pioneers will travel to Adrian, Michigan for a two game set with the nationally-ranked Adrian Bulldogs on Saturday and Sunday. Adrian finished third in the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship. Saturday's game will start at 7 p.m., and Sunday's matchup begins at 3 p.m.