UTICA, NY - Coming off of its opening day win last Wednesday, the Utica Pioneers men's lacrosse team will play Hamilton College on Tuesday, March 8 at 5 p.m. 
 
Follow Along: Live stats and video for Tuesday's game will be available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/
 
First Time Out: The Pioneer's hosted Suny Poly in their first game of the season at Gaetano Stadium. Just over a minute into play Gage Fiacco (Massena, NY/Massena) scored his and the Pioneers first goal of the season, wasting little time putting Utica out in front. A few minutes later it was Fiacco scoring again before Connor Costanza (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park ) scored the first goal of his college career 10 minutes into the opening quarter. Poly looked to creep back into it with a goal by Andrew Maycock in the first quarter, but Sam Serrano (Stone Ridge, NY/Roundout Valley) put in his first of three on the day to regain the three-goal cushion after one quarter of action. The first half of play ended 4-2 Utica after the only second quarter goal was scored by Poly's Amilio Ripa. There was no looking back for the Pioneers as they answered every Poly goal in the second half and added two more on top of it, with the final score being 8-4 Utica. 
 
Third Time's the Charm: Off to a hot start to the season for the Pioneers is midfielder Gage Fiacco (Massena, NY/Massena) and attackman Sam Serrano (Stone Ridge, NY/Roundout Valley). The pair tallied three goals each in the home opener against SUNY Poly, Fiacco doing so on seven attempts and Serrano on six shots. Fiacco scored six goals and had two assists for the Pioneers last season while Serrano has already surpassed his goal totals from the shortened 2021 season. 
 
It Was Always Avery: Captain John Avery (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford-Mendon) also started early in his goal scoring efforts, putting one into the back of the net in the fourth quarter for Utica in the home opener. He also assisted on Fiacco's third goal of the game in the 3rd quarter which pushed Utica's lead to 6-2 at the time. Avery led the Pioneers with 14 goals last season, and earned Empire 8 all conference second team honors in doing so. Avery ranked seventh in the conference in goals per game in 2021. 
 
Good to be Goodspeed: Jon Goodspeed (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Forks) made his first career start in net for the Pioneers, attributing 14 saves in the team's win over Poly. Through the first game Goodspeed is ranked second in the E8 conference in save percentage at .776 and fourth with a 4.0 goals against average. 
 
Scouting Hamilton: The Continentals come to Utica after dropping a tightly contested game to No. 19 Amherst College, 11-9. Torben Wunderle led the team with four points in the game stemming from two goals and a pair of assists while teammate Rowan Brumbaugh also netted two goals on seven attempts. Nine different players would record a point in the losing effort. Protecting the cage for Hamilton is Seamus Fagan, who recorded 20 saves on a .645 save percentage against Amherst. 

Up Next: The Pioneers continue its season opening four-game homestand at 1 p.m. on Saturday against Moravian University.