UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's lacrosse team plays its first games in over a calendar year this week. The season kicks off on Wednesday, March 17th as the Pioneers host the Castleton Spartans in a non-conference match. Opening faceoff is slated for 4 p.m. On Friday, the Pioneers will journey down to the Mid-Hudson Valley for a matchup with SUNY New Paltz. Start time for that non-conference clash is set for 3 p.m.

Follow Along: Live video and stats for Wednesday's game will be made available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica. Live video and stats for Friday's game will be available at portal.stretchinternet.com/nphawks/.

Last Year: The Pioneers opened with a 1-4 record against a challenging early season schedule in 2020. Three of Utica's four losses were by three goals or less. The Pioneers ended the shortened season with an 11-9 win against Marywood on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020. Dylan Dunham (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge) had a hat trick to lead UC, while James Daniele (Pleasantville, NY/Pleasantville), Dale Wagner (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge), and Gage Fiacco (Massena, NY/Massena) each had two goals. John Avery (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford-Mendon) scored the game-winner with 11:33 to go in the fourth quarter. Jozef Korpics (Center Valley, PA/Moravian Academy) made fifteen saves. It was the final home athletic event of the 2019-20 academic year at UC.

Picking Up Where They Left Off: The Pioneers will open the 2021 season against the team that would have been its next opponent in 2020. Utica would have played against Castleton on March 14th, 2020, and will now open the season with a home date against the Spartans just over a year after that date.

From the Award Archives: In the Pioneers' last full campaign, the team had two players honored in the 2019 Empire 8 Conference year-end awards. Defender Kevin Parisi (Glenwood, NJ/Vernon Township) was named an honorable mention pick in his rookie season after leading the Pioneers with 45 caused turnovers, and 73 ground balls. Jared Smaldon (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) was named to the sportsman of the year team. Parisi returns for his third season, while Smaldon has graduated from the program. Utica was 7-9 in the 2019 season and closed out that year with back-to-back conference wins against Elmira and Houghton.

On The Bench: The Pioneers return the top two members of their 2020 Coaching Staff for 2021. Head Coach Mike Parnell returns for a fifteenth season, and has 86 wins to his credit. 51 of those wins have been at home. He was a founding member of the Pioneer lacrosse program as a player, and later took the reins from Lacrosse Hall of Famer Tim Nelson as just the program's second head coach. Justin Patterson is in his second season as an assistant.

On The Attack: The Pioneers are fortunate to bring back six of their top seven scorers from the 2020 season. The offense averaged 7.60 goals per game overall. Dale Wagner (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge) was the top point-getter from last year's squad and had eleven points on eight goals and three assists. He scored one of Utica's three man-up goals over the course of the year, and was tenth in the conference in shots per game. Dylan Dunham (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge) had ten points on a team-high nine goals and one assist. Dunham was tenth in the conference at 2.25 goals per game. James Daniele (Pleasantville, NY/Pleasantville) had ten points on seven goals and three assists, and scored Utica's only man-down goal of the year. John Avery (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford-Mendon) had six points on three goals and three assists, Gage Fiacco (Massena, NY/Massena) had three goals, and local product Jacob Hyer (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) had two goals and an assist, and also had 17 ground balls.

The Midfield Is Strong: Utica will also have the luxury of returning a solid midfield, with Wagner, Daniele, and Fiacco all returning. Drew Turck (Lowville, NY/Lowville) and Josh Bennett (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) also return with a significant amount of faceoff time under their belts. That experience will prove helpful in the absence of some other key midfield pieces, such as Zach Duby (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt), Dakota Allen (Rome, NY/Holland Patent), and faceoff man Jimmy Vinneau.

On Defense: The Pioneers will be re-tooling their defense to some degree after the departure of Alex Velazquez (Brookhaven, NY/Longwood), Michael Foresti (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), and Tom Zegarelli (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford). While those are significant departures, they will have the luxury of two anchoring points to set the table in their own third of the field. Junior All-Conference performer Kevin Parisi (Glenwood, NJ/Vernon Township) is back as one of the program's most notable defenders ever. He caused a team-best ten turnovers and snagged thirteen ground balls in the five game season last year. Local product Nick Alexander (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) is also back after starting all five games last year. Alexander had eleven ground balls to his credit. In the 2019 season, Alexander had 39 ground balls credited and also caused 22 turnovers to rank second on the team in that category behind Parisi. Jack Varian (Stanhope, NJ/Lenape Valley Regional) has eleven appearances as a Pioneer and may be another veteran face that Coach Parnell looks to for this season.

In Goal: Utica retains a pair of experienced netminders that it can look to this season. Sophomore Jozef Korpics (Center Valley, PA/Moravian Academy) started four of five games in his rookie season and landed the team's lone win of the year against Marywood. He was 1-3 with a 56.2 percent save percentage and an 11.60 Goals Allowed Average. Senior Ryan Boshart (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) started one game last season and made seventeen saves. He made four starts in 2019 with a 2-2 record.

Last Time Against Castleton: Utica defeated Castleton by a 13-6 score on March 16th, 2019 at Castleton. Dale Wagner (Elbridge, NY/Jordan Elbridge) had four goals to guide the Pioneers that day.

About Castleton: Castleton is 0-2 to start the season after an 8-5 loss to Plymouth State, and a 20-8 loss to Norwich University. Dawson Nalette and Collin Johnson each have four goals apiece. Maxx Ingison has started both games in goal and has made seventeen saves. Chris LaBonte had six goals last season but has just one through the first two games of the year. The Spartans were 0-4 last season, and 5-12 in 2019.

About New Paltz: The Hawks are in just their second varsity season, as the birth of their program has come with the continued growth and interest in the game in that region of New York State over the last 10 to 15 years. They were 2-2 in their shortened inaugural season, and are coming off a pair of overtime games with an 11-12 loss to Bard, and a 9-8 double overtime win over SUNY Purchase. They are coached by former UAlbany midfielder Dwayne Stewart.

What's Next: Utica hits the road for the continuation of a five-game road trip on Wednesday, March 24th as they meet Morrisville State College. Faceoff is slated for 7 p.m.