Box Score UTICA, NY - Penalty strokes are high pressure moments in the sport of Field Hockey. Usually, a team's most experienced player is the one who gets the nod at the spot. However, occasionally there comes a player whose talent warrants an opportunity in these big moments… Mia Benincasa (Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls) is that player.
 
Benincasa, just a freshman, was selected to take a pivotal penalty stroke late in Wednesday's matchup against Keystone College. With the entire result hanging in the balance, Benincasa slotted the attempt into the bottom left corner of the cage, giving her team a 2-1 lead with only seconds remaining and securing a massive first win for the Pioneers.
 
Benincasa's goal was her team-leading 4th goal of the year. The superstar rookie has only appeared in 8 games so far in her career but has managed to pick up a score in half of them, ranking out as the Pioneer's top scorer through 4 games.
 
Alyssa Pisano (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) scored the first goal for the Pioneers on a beautiful pass from fellow Utica veteran Mackenzie Mix (Camden, NY/Camden). Mix drove down the right side of the Keystone defense and slid a pass to the center of the Giants' circle where Pisano was waiting to put it away for a 1-0 lead.
 
The goal was Pisano's 3rd of the season, and it was her second game in a row finding the cage for the Pioneers after scoring in their last outing vs St. John Fisher.
 
Mix's assist put her into the lead as the top Pioneer playmaker, with the lightning-fast Senior having 3 assists on the season.

Madison Ranalli (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) also shut down the Keystone attackers throughout the night, snuffing out various Giant opportunities and recording 2 defensive saves.
 
The Pioneers outshot Keystone by a margin of 12-8, although they landed less shots on goal with the Giants winning that category by a 6-5 tally. Utica did manage to force more corners though, gaining 8 penalty corners as opposed to Keystone's 5.
 
Hannah Young (Jordanville, NY/Little Falls) did well in goal for Utica, stopping some screaming shots by the Giants on her way to recording 3 saves.
 
Play was back-and-forth for most of the first half, with the two teams having to adapt to rainy conditions. Lots of plays were broken down due to miss-hits as the squads attempted to adjust.
 
It was the Pioneers who found their footing first, coming out hot after the halftime whistle and finding a breakthrough only a couple minutes into the third quarter on Pisano's aforementioned goal.
 
Utica held the 1-0 lead until the final couple minutes of regulation, where a Giants goal with less than 4 minutes left would knot the game at 1.
 
The Pioneers then launched a final barrage, one that included back-to-back corners in the final minute of play.