UTICA, NY - The Utica College women's hockey team will head to Rochester this Friday for a home-and-home series with Nazareth College, before hosting the Golden Flyers on Saturday inside the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Both games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
 
Coverage for Friday: Live video and stats for Friday's game will be available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/nazareth/ .
 
Follow Along Saturday: Per existing COVID-19 protocols, no spectators will be permitted on the premises at any Utica College Athletic event until further notice. Live video and stats for all UC Home Games are available at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. Sports Information Assistant Ray Biggs '13 brings fans the home play-by-play for a tenth season, and will be joined by students from WPNR-FM throughout the season. Fans can also view home games on the free Empire 8 apps available for Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV devices.
 
Last Time Out: For the first time in the all-time series, Utica swept Manhattanville, in last weekend's home-and-home twin-bill. Utica was quick and powerful with seven players recording goals on the weekend. Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel), Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School), Alexa Carlon (Lakewood, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles), Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) (two), Gerogiana Santullo, Ava Suda (Cheektowaga, NY/Buffalo Bisons), and Lexi Stanisewski (Lawrence, MA/Boston Shamrocks) all found the back of the net for UC. The Pioneers ended the weekend with a 5-0 win at home, and a 3-2 win at Manhattanville, to bring their current conference record to 2-0.
 
The Series Against Nazareth: Nazareth and Utica have met just four times before, with the Golden Flyers holding a 3-1 advantage. Utica split the series last year after winning on the road at Nazareth 4-1, with Abby Lillis (West Seneca, NY/Buffalo Bisons), Whitney, and Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel)(two) finding the back of the net. Unfortunately, they did not have the same luck while hosting Nazareth later in the season, with Whitney recording the only goal in a 3-1 loss.
 
Scoring Stefanini: Freshman forward Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) has been a force so far, in her first collegiate hockey season. She has scored five times in four games, giving her a standing of 3rd in the nation for goals per game (1.25).
 
Working with Whitney: Sophomore forward Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Milbrook School) has been putting in the work, recording seven points in four games. With two goals and five assists, she is 5th in the nation in assists per game (1.25). Whitney currently leads the team in points, and she is tied for 12th in the nation for points per game (1.75).
 
Hawthorne with the Hands: Freshman goalie Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) has wasted little time getting accustomed to collegiate play. Through her first three games, she has compiled an exceptional .952 save percentage, which ranks 12th in the nation. She is tied for 11th nationally with 1.00 goals against per game.
 
Youth movement: The 2020-2021 season is looking like a year of the underclassmen. Six of Utica's top eight scorers so far are freshmen or sophomores. Whitney and Stefanini top the boards with seven and five points, respectively. Freshmen Alexa Carlon (Lakewood, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles) and Nicole Flak (Middleton, MA/Boston Shamrocks) and sophomores Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) and Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) are all tied with three points each.
 
About Nazareth: Nazareth College ended the 2019-2020 season on solid ground after making it to the quarterfinals of the UCHC Tournament, with an overall record of 18-5-3 and a conference record of 12-2-2. Returning this season are Nazareth's top two goal scorers of last season, junior forwards Abbey Luth and Hailey Redders. Naz had a tough start to the 2020-2021 year with a 1-4 loss to defending conference champion Elmira College, in their season opener last weekend.
 
Up Next: Utica will face conference foe Elmira College in another home-and-home series next weekend. The Pioneers will host the Soaring Eagles on Friday at 6 p.m., before heading to Elmira on Saturday for a 4 p.m. puck drop.