Utica, NY – The No. 14 Utica University women's hockey team will travel to Worcester, Massachusetts to face the Lancers of Worcester State University this Friday at 7:30 p.m. for their first matchup to start the new year. The game will take place at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center for their third non-conference matchup of the season. 

Follow Along: Live stats will be available through Worcester State's Sports Information Department at shorturl.at/iCJW6. To watch the game, sign up at hockeytv.com.

Matchup History: The two teams met nearly a year ago on January 10, 2022, for their only previous matchup. Utica took a decisive victory by a score of 6-1. The Pioneers capitalized three times out of the five power plays that they had drawn. Rebecca Brown (Steamboat Springs, CO/Norwich University), Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School), and Cortney Staniszewski (Buffalo, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles) each finished with two points in the game. Santullo and Satniszewski will be looking for the same result as last year.

Current Standings: The Pioneers have moved to 8-1-1 on the year. The team is also ranked 14^th in the USCHO Poll. Utica comes into the matchup on a seven-game win streak and a conference record of 7-0-1. Utica is currently second in the UCHC.

Previous Result: Utica comes into the game after sweeping the weekend series against Alvernia. Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) led Utica to a 3 to 1 victory with one goal and one assist. Utica then took the next game by a score of 4 to 0. Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) made a combined 33 saves on 34 shots for the weekend.  

Spreading the Wealth: Four Pioneers are averaging at least one point per game. Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) leads the team at 1.5 points per game. Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School) and Carly Stefanini (Framingham, MA/Brooks School) are each averaging 1.3 points per game and Abby Lillis (West Seneca, NY/Buffalo Bisons) rounds out the top four at one point per game. The Pioneers also have 15 different goal scorers on the season totaling 53 goals on 81 assists. 

Brick Wall: Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) will look to shutout the Lancers for the first time this season. Hawthorne has two shutouts on the season and will look to capture her third. The Junior has made 181 saves and has a .958 save percentage on the season. 

Worcester Scouting Report: The Lancers come into this game with a 7-4 record and a two-game win streak. Worcester has scored at least one goal in each game this year. Worcester State finished with a record of 14-7-2 last season. 

Up Next: Utica will take on Oswego State at home on January 10 at 7 p.m. Oswego is currently ranked one spot below the Pioneers at 15. This will be the second ranked opponent that the Pioneers will face to start the year.