UTICA, NY – The Utica College women's hockey team will continue its longest road trip of the season in a weekend series against Alvernia University. Puck drop for Friday's matchup is at 7 p.m. while Saturday's game will start at 2 p.m.
 
How to Watch: Live stream will be provided for the weekend by following https://auwolves.com/watch/?Live=891&type=Live while live stats can be found by following https://auwolves.com/sidearmstats/whockey/summary. 
 
Last Time Out: The Pioneers (6-2, 6-0 UCHC) are coming off their first loss since October 30 after falling to Hamilton College 3-2 on Sunday. Hamilton opened the scoring with 2:18 left in the first period when Hyla Mosher put in a feed from Jess Haviland and Maura Holden. The Continentals scored again at 12:07 of the second period as Holden put in a powerplay tally for her second of the season. Sami Quackenbush and Mya Berretta each picked up assists on the play. The Pioneers struck back just one minute later as Hubert redirected a shot for her first of the day off a feed by Rebecca Brown (Steamboat Springs, CO/Norwich University). Molly Pedone (Trinity, FL/Robert Morris) was also credited with an assist on Utica's first tally. Hamilton once again took a two-goal lead on a powerplay tally with 4:51 remaining in regulation off the stick of Nancy Loh, with assists by Abby Kuhns and Bobbi Roca. The Pioneers would not go down without a fight however as Hubert put in her second of the day with 3:41 remaining to pull UC back within one. Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School) and Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) tallied the assists. Savannah Gutierrez (Huntington Beach, CA/Anaheim Lady Ducks) made 42 saves in the loss. 
 
Filling the Trophy Case: Multiple Pioneers brought home UCHC weekly honors this past week. Gutierrez received her first UCHC goalie of the week award of the season after recording 42 saves on 45 shots for a .933 save percentage. Hubert was named UCHC Player of the Week after finishing the Hamilton loss with both goals scored for the Pioneers. This marked the fourth week in a row a member of the Utica women's hockey team has received player of the week honors. 
 
Leaders of the Nation: UC currently leads the nation in assists this season with a total of 84 as well as with 132 points as a team. These efforts are not done by one alone, but by many as the Pioneers have three players ranked in the top-20 in Division III for assists per game in Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) (1.50), Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School) (1.12), and Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) (1.00). 
 
Spread the Wealth: While Santullo leads the nation in goals per game (2.88), the team has had 16 different players record a goal this season. This mark has already eclipsed the totals from the shortened season last year with 14 different goal scorers and remains the most since 2018-19 which also saw 16 different players score. As a unit, UC is second in the nation with 48 goals on the season. 
 
Meeting History: This will be just the second meeting between the two programs all-time. The last time these teams faced off was on February 1, 2020, and ended in a 3-0 victory for the Pioneers. The string of goals for Utica was started by Santullo off the assist from Sirena Fitzery (Hamburg, NY/Buffalo Bisons) and Kyra Borsoi. In the victory, UC sent 82 shots on goal as all but one Pioneer that touched the ice got at least one shot off. 
 
Scouting the Golden Wolves: The Golden Wolves (3-4-1, 2-1-1 UCHC) enter this matchup coming off a 1-0-1 weekend against Neumann University. Despite an early power play goal by Jasmine Hughes in the first period, Neumann evened the game in the second period and from that point on neither team could find the back of the net again as the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Alvernia followed the tie with an impressive 5-1 win as five different Golden Wolves scored a goal in the game. The win included two assists by the team's leading passer, Sydney Bradley, who has a total of five assists on the season.  

Up Next: UC will return to the ice on Tuesday, December 7 when the team travels to Morrisville State to take on the Mustangs in a non-conference match. Face-off is set for 7 p.m.