ROCHESTER, NY - Fueled by Julianna Beaulieu's (Southwick, MA/Chicopee Comprehensive) first career hat-trick and an overall explosive offensive outing, the Utica University women's soccer team defeated St. John Fisher University 5-3 in the Empire 8 Conference Semifinals on Thursday. With the win, Utica will appear in its fourth championship game in the last five seasons. 
 
Late in the 8th minute, Fisher capitalized on a shot that snuck past an outreached Courtney Connolly (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) for an early 1-0 lead. However, the Pioneers responded quickly just three minutes later. Jenna Keeman (Douglas, MA/Douglas) delivered a well placed ball to Julianna Beaulieu (Southwick, MA/Chicopee Comprehensive) who had the defense beat up the field. Upon receiving the ball, Beaulieu beat the charging Cardinals goalie Avery Byrnes to her right as the ball sailed into the open net to even the game. 
 
The Cardinals regained the lead in the 18th minute on a header from less than five yards out. Once again, Utica would not shy away. Following a foul drawn by Ro Hernandez (Carmel, NY/Kennedy Catholic), Keeman lined up for a free kick from about 35 yards out as the first half neared the 23rd minute. Keeman powered the ball over the defense and placed it to the left side of the net to make it a 2-2 game. 
 
On the Utica attack in the 45th minute, Beaulieu drew a penalty kick. The junior lined up and put the ball bottom-left past the diving Byrnes to give the Pioneers its first lead of the game at 3-2, which stood entering halftime. 
 
Both offenses remained silent until Beaulieu took advantage of a giveaway by the Fisher defense in the 64th minute. While deep in the Pioneers offensive zone, Beaulieu charged a pass from the Cardinals to Byrnes, picked the ball clean, and scored on a wide-open net to open the game up to a 4-2 Utica lead. Minutes later, the Pioneers iced the game on a goal by Jacinta Kaminski (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent) who came away with the ball on a scramble out in front of goal with an assist by Mikayla Kelley (Ballston Spa/Ballston Spa). 
 
Fisher tallied one more goal in the 83rd minute however, Utica held off any sort of comeback attempt by the regular season champions and finished the upset win. 
 
With eight combined goals, Utica and Fisher tied the record for the highest scoring game in Empire Conference Women's Soccer Tournament history.
 
The Pioneers were efficient on shot attempts as 11 of 12 looks were on goal. Beaulieu led the team with five shots on net while Keeman had three. In goal, Connolly recorded four saves in the winning effort. 
 
Utica (8-7-4, 4-2-3 Empire 8) will travel to second-seeded Nazareth College at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday for the Empire 8 Conference Championship.  
 
Utica and Nazareth played to a scoreless draw on October 8 at Pioneer Field in Utica.