UTICA, NY - The Utica University women's lacrosse team will finish up its regular season on the road this week. First, the Pioneers will travel to SUNY Canton on Wednesday at 4 p.m. before going to Keuka College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. start.
Follow Along: For those not able to attend Wednesday's game, SUNY Canton will provide a live stream of the game at
https://rooathletics.com/sports/2016/2/5/WLAX_0205163729.aspx along with live stats at
https://rooathletics.com/sidearmstats/wlax/summary. Keuka will also provide live video and stats on Saturday through
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/keukaathletics/.
Last Time Out: Leading the charge once again for the Pioneers was sophomore
Grace Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), who tied her career high single game goals with six. Not too far behind her was
Samantha DeCondo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), who tallied five goals and two assists to make for a seven point outing.
Katie Crofoot (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central) recorded her second hat trick of the year, and the duo of
Alexis Alteri (Clinton, NY/Clinton) and
Alyssa Pisano (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) each tallied two goals.
Alyssa Drell (Mastic, NY/William Floyd),
Abigail Gerling (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), and
Belicia Biette (Troy, NY/Columbia) rounded out the scoring for the Pioneers tallying one apiece. As a unit, the Pioneers outshot the Saxons 35-26 with 27 of the Pioneer shots falling on goal. In goal,
Breese Burlingame (Binghamton, NY/Northfield Mount Hermon) made 10 saves. Utica jumped out to a 4-0 lead less than five minutes into the opening frame, off individual efforts from Stuhlman, Pisano, Drell, and DeCondo. The Pioneers would hold on to the momentum for the remainder of the first quarter and not let Alfred within four goals. The Pioneers would pad their lead going into the second quarter to go up 12-3 with 8:37 left in the frame and would not let their foot off the gas for the rest of the contest.
Ticket Punched: The team has clinched Empire 8 postseason berth and currently hold the third-seed. The Pioneers will finish as the No. 3 seed with a win in its final E8 regular season game or a loss and a Hartwick loss. Utica holds the head-to-head tiebreaker on Hartwick. Utica would be the No. 4 seed with a loss and Hartwick win. While Medaille can get to 4-3, Utica holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. This will be the third season in a row the team has clinched a playoff berth.
Offensive Production: Utica has outscored its opponents 37-13 over its last two contests against Russell Sage and Alfred and are currently on a four-game winning streak. There have been a plethora of goal scorers that have been stepping up to help add to the already high-level production of
Grace Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and
Samantha DeCondo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro).
Alyssa Pisano (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) netted five goals in the two games while dominating the draw control, winning 11.
Katie Crofoot (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central) has scored four goals in the two games and is having a productive junior season. The Pioneers are ranked fourth in the Empire 8 averaging 12.79 goals per game and second in the conference with a .472 shooting percentage.
Defensive Dominance: Breese Burlingame (Binghamton, NY/Northfield Mount Hermon) is having a first season to remember. She is top-three in the Empire 8 in save percentage, saves per game and goals against average through 14 games. With her efforts, Utica has held its opponents to under ten goals in three consecutive games. Extra effort has also paid dividends to the team as through the 2022 season the Pioneers compiled 315 ground balls while this season they have 342 with games remaining. As far as gaining extra possessions,
Aana Blaszka (Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton Academy) has recorded a caused turnover in the last nine matchups and sits sixth in the conference with 18 on the season.
Scouting Canton: The Roos' last game was postponed against NVU-Lyndon. On April 16, they beat SUNY Potsdam 19-9. The team is 6-6 overall and 3-3 in the North Atlantic Conference. Samantha Dayter scored eight goals and dished out eight assists and controlled six draws. Morgan Montgomery recorded four goals and one assist. Dayter leads the team with 49 goals and 47 assists and has recorded at-least three points in each game. Maddy Caron is second on the team with 48 points and leads the team with 80 draw controls. Goalkeeper Olivia Scott has started all 12 contests and has a .439 save percentage.
Looking At Keuka: The team is 1-10 overall and 0-6 in the Empire 8. They are coming off a 16-4 loss to conference opponent Medaille. Madeline Greene leads the way with 15 goals, seven assists, 42 draw controls and 35 ground balls. Sadie Bonetti has played in eight games and sits second in points with 16. Alyssa Chase is between the pipes posting a .397 save percentage and she ranks second in the Empire 8 with 11.45 saves per game.
Up Next: Having already qualified, Utica will ready for its Empire 8 Semifinal contest on May 3. With a win, the team will advance to the Empire 8 Championship on May 6.
