Utica, NY- The Utica College women's soccer team battles St. John Fisher College in their last Empire 8 regular season game. The Pioneers will host the Cardinals at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium on Thursday, April 8th at 4 PM. 

Live Coverage: Live video and stats of the match will be made available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers are coming off an impressive victory on Sunday, March 28th as they toppled Elmira College 6-0 at home. In the first half, UC put away four goals.Those goals came from junior midfielder Hillaria Hernandez (Carmel, NY/Kennedy Catholic), senior midfielder Haley Harrington (Munnsville, NY/Stockbridge Valley), and the Pioneers got two tallies from senior midfielder Kierra Cassey. In the second half, two more Pioneers added to the score as freshman forward Kaela Mochak (Westfield, MA/Westfield) and sophomore forward Hope Millets (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) struck goals in the final 45 minutes. 

Player of the Week: Kierra Caissey (Gardner, MA/Gardner) was the Empire 8 Player of the Week for the award week spanning March 22nd to 28th. She earned the achievement after her big impact on the match against Elmira. Cassey contributed two goals to the Pioneers 6-0 victory. 

Sharing the Ball: UC has been having a solidly brilliant season in the scoring department, with six players recording a goal. Caissey leads the team with three goals, which is tied for fourth in the conference. Senior midfielder Jacinta Kaminski (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent) has put away two goals this season, with both coming in UC's 2-0 win over Alfred in the season opener. Hernandez, Harrington, Mochak, and Millets each have one goal apiece. The latter quartet have all recorded their first goals in a Pioneer uniform this season.

Serving it Up: Hillaria Hernandez (Carmel, NY/Kennedy Catholic) has fit right in since coming to Utica. The former Cortland Red Dragon and All-SUNYAC selection has a team-high three assists, and one goal in her first four matches with the Pioneers. She is tied for second in the conference in assists. 

History With Fisher: The Pioneers and the Cardinals never fail to deliver an exciting match. Last season these two teams met once in the regular season and in the first round of the E8 Conference Tournament. In their regular season game both teams battled it out through double overtime, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. In the E8 tournament, senior defender Emma Workman (Salt Lake City, UT/East) netted a 30 yard free kick to give UC the 1-0 win. 

About Fisher: Fisher's season has been steady this far. The Cardinals are 2-2 overall and most recently took a loss at the hands of a strong Nazareth College side. In all competitions, they've managed to find the back of the net except for their game against Alfred where they were held scoreless. 

Up Next: After Utica takes on Fisher that will conclude the currently scheduled regular season. The 2021 Spring E8 Championship tournament is set to take place between April 13th and 17th.