UTICA, NY - Pioneer Field Hockey enters the homestretch of their 2024 campaign with matchups this week on the road Wednesday at Hartwick and at home Saturday against Brockport. Wednesday's contest will take place in Oneonta, while the weekend match will be later in the evening at ABM Field as part of Utica's Homecoming festivities.
 
How to Watch: Follow along live this week by clicking the "Watch" tab or by selecting "Watch" under both contests on our Field Hockey schedule page. You can also follow the links below.
Wednesday at Hartwick stream link: https://www.empire8network.com/utica/?B=1364726
Saturday vs Brockport stream link: https://www.empire8network.com/utica/?B=1147051
 
Live Statistics: Get live statistics updates for every Field Hockey matchup by following the link below to our new live stats page, or by selecting the "Live Stats" tab under each matchup on our 2024 Field Hockey schedule page.
Wednesday at Hartwick live stat link: https://sidearmstats.com/hartwick/fhockey/xlive.htm
Saturday vs Brockport live stat link: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/fhockey/summary
 
Last Time Out: The Utica University field hockey team had an excellent team win against Elmira College on Senior Day, winning 10-0. Alyssa Pisano (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) and Mia Benincasa (Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls) each collected a hat-trick. Alanna Fragapane (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) scored twice and Mackenzie Mix (Camden, NY/Camden) and Jocelyn Spiezio (Greenwich, NY/Greenwich) each tallied one goal each. Madison Ranalli (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) and Kassidy Gloude (Blossvale, NY/Camden) collected an assist each. Seven different players registered at least one shot. Hannah Young (Jordanville, NY/Little Falls) started in goal for Utica, making zero saves after a great defensive outing from the Pioneer defense. Ismiah ChinQuee (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) played the second half, recording one save. Utica opened the afternoon with two penalty corners, which nearly drew first blood. The offense put an immense amount of pressure on the Elmira defense, collecting over 10 shots in the first eight minutes of action. Pisano opened the scoring just under four minutes into the game, giving Utica an early 1-0 lead. Two minutes later, Spiezio scored her first goal of the season as the Pioneers jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage. Pisano scored again just before the quarter ended as Utica took a 3-0 lead into the second quarter. The Pioneers opened the second with two quick goals from Pisano and Benincasa, taking a 5-0 lead. All three of Benincasa's goals were scored in a four-minute span, while Pisano scored a hat-trick in the first half. Utica took a 9-0 lead into halftime after totaling 22 shots on goal compared to Elmira's zero. Utica scored two goals in the second half to close out a dominant performance.
 
Hat Trick Havoc: Of the 10 hat tricks recorded in Empire 8 conference play this season, the Pioneers own five of those outings.
 
Pisano and Benincasa mustered the fourth and fifth hat trick of the season for Pioneer Field Hockey in the weekend win over Elmira on Saturday. Pisano's hat trick was her second of the season, while Benincasa joined Mix and Fragapane as the other hat trick holders as she recorded her first three-goal outing of the year. Both Pisano and Benincasa's hat tricks on Saturday were completed in rapid fashion as well, with Pisano accruing her three goals in the span of 12 minutes and Benincasa's clocking even at an even faster pace with the Pioneer rookie scoring her three goals in just over four minutes. Benincasa's hat trick also came in back-to-back-to-back fashion during the middle stages of the second quarter. Benincasa also picked up the most points in a matchup in all of Empire 8 play this season during her game against Elmira, with the talented freshman owning the top Empire 8 points performance so far in E8 play, gathering seven points off of three goals and an assist.
 
Pioneer Prestige: Pisano and Mix both currently sit within the top-15 in the Empire 8 for shots per game, with the former slotting in at 7th and the latter ranked 15th. The upperclassman duo also ranks within the top 10 in the conference for goals, with Pisano's 10 goals ranking 7th and Mix's 8 goals landing her in 10th. In addition, Mix is hot on the heels of Geneseo's Sam Lewis for the title of top assist-getter in the Empire 8. Mix currently trails Lewis by two assists, having eight in 2024.
 
Benincasa picked up the most points in a matchup in all of Empire 8 play this season during her game against Elmira, with the talented freshman owning the top Empire 8 points performance so far in E8 play, gathering seven points off of three goals and an assist.
 
Madison Ranalli (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) ranks second in the Empire 8 for defensive saves, with the graduate student holding 6 defensive saves so far. She also sits tied for 12th in all of NCAA DIII for that same category.
 
Scouting Hartwick: Hartwick, last year's Empire 8 Tournament Champions, are off to a 6-6 start in 2024, facing some tough competition early in the season before righting the ship as they began Empire 8 play. The Hawks started off 2024 going 2-5, with tough losses to very capable opponents in #21 Rochester (1-4), #8 Cortland (0-5), and #19 Geneseo (0-3). One of their early losses also included a shootout defeat to Union College (3-4), who the Pioneers also fell to last week. Since their loss to then #20 Geneseo, Hartwick has been on a hot streak, taking four of their five most recent contests. They currently place third in the Empire 8 standings with a 4-2 record.
 
The Hawks tend to score a lot of skillful goals, evidenced by the fact that they've assisted on less than half of their scores, a testament to their individual playmaking ability. They're led on offense by a pair of six-goal scorers, with Danielle Hand and Ashley Tricarico both having six goals and three assists on the season. After the duo of Hand and Tricarico are the secondary threats in Makenize Kensel, Hope Angioletti, and Makayla Bales. These three players combined have 10 goals and zero assists, meaning this group of attackers represent dangerous scoring threats no matter where they are on the field.
 
 The Hawks' main goalkeepers tend to split their time in the cage, with Ashley Luppens starting the bulk of their first half minutes, and Ava Reynolds getting the call during most of their second half action. Despite Luppens having 10 starts over their 12 games, it's actually Reynolds who has more minutes and has logged more saves. Luppens has 30 saves, stopping shots at a 68.2% rate while Reynolds has 36 saves, stopping shots at a slightly better rate of 76.6%.
 
The Series - Hartwick: The Pioneers have an 11-15 all-time record vs Hartwick, generating close to the same record at home (5-6) as they have away (6-8) in the series. The Pioneers own the longest win streak in the rivalry, winning 7 straight games against Hartwick from 2010 all the way to 2016. More recently, the Hawks have had the upper hand, taking six of the last seven matchups, with the lone Pioneer victory during that span coming in a 2-1 decision back during the 2021 Empire 8 Semifinals.
 
Scouting Brockport: Brockport has been strong in their first Empire 8 season, jumping out to a 12-3 record as well as a spotless 6-0 start to conference play. The Golden Eagles' three losses all came early on in the season to tough New York opposition in #21 Rochester (0-3), RPI (2-4), and #23 Ithaca (0-2). Since their loss to Ithaca on the 18th of September, Brockport has rattled off nine-straight victories, including six-straight to claim their spot in second place, just a game behind Geneseo for the number one spot in the Empire 8 standings.
 
The Golden Eagles have outscored their opponents by an average of over two goals per game in 2024. They've scored 51 goals, nearly an average of three and a half per match, and have assisted on 39 of their 51 scores, a very good playmaking rate. The Golden Eagles also earn penalty corners at a rapid rate, gaining over 10 corner tries per game.
 
Brockport's attack is led by Allison Greene and Kelsey Zehr, the former of which has 10 goals and six assists, and the latter who sports eight goals and six assists. Brockport has also seen major contributions from Paige Thowe and Samantha Choate, with both players having seven goals scored this year.
 
They've also seen reliable defensive play from Senior Mary Young, who's started all 15 games while recording three defensive saves.
 
Ella Buchanan is the main cageminder for the Golden Eagles, starting 13 games for the team while recording 71 saves at an impressive 80.7% rate. The Senior has saved 82 of the 108 shots she's faced.
 
The Series - Brockport: Utica is 10-6 all-time against Brockport, winning six straight games over the Golden Eagles from 2011 to 2018. The Pioneers have fared very well at home, going 7-2 in their home contests vs the Golden Eagles. Brockport has taken the last two contests by scores of 1-6 and 2-6 over the past two seasons, but saw the Pioneers win 10 of the last 12 contests before those two losses. 
 
Up Next: The Pioneers will be back at ABM Field next weekend for their final game of the 2024 regular season when they welcome Russell Sage to Casamento Field on Saturday, November 2nd at 11:00 AM.