UTICA, NY - The Utica University women's soccer team took down its last conference opponent, the Keuka College Wolves, with a 2-0 shutout Wednesday afternoon.
 
Finding the back of the net for the Pioneers was Kayla Giovingo (Centereach, NY/Centereach) and Amber Persma.Dishing out the Pioneer assists were Rylee Lamphere (Little Falls, NY/Dolgeville) and Mackenzie Turner (Hamilton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton).The Pioneers would outshoot the Keuka Wolves by an 11-8 margin in the contest. Piersma had six shots with four on goal followed by Mackenzie Turner (Hamilton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) with five shots and Rory Richard (Barneveld, NY/Holland Patent) who tallied four. Giovingo recorded three shots with two on goal and both Lamphere and Samantha Kogut (North Adams, MA/Drury) recorded a pair of shots each. Cora Kraft (Poughquag, NY/Arlington), Natalia Bell (Cortland, NY/Groton) and Bell Noble tallied a shot a piece. Goalkeeper Emily Duro (Wappinger Falls, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) made four saves in her first collegiate shutout victory. 
 
Utica would open the first half with a shot less than 30 seconds into the match off the foot of Kogut.12 minutes later the Pioneers recorded back to back shots courtesy of Kogut and Richard. The Pioneer's offense would continue firing on all cylinders with Piersma tallying her first shot of the game in the 27th minute. Utica kept the momentum going, keeping the Wolves quiet until Turner would be granted an opportunity to find the back of the net that would come up unfounded. Utica would finish the opening frame with back to back corners, leading the Pioneers into the half in the midst of a scoreless draw.
 
To begin the final frame, the Pioneers would be granted a corner kick less than one minute into the frame resulting in a pair of shots from Kraft and Noble that would come up unfounded. Less than four minutes later, Piersma would rifle one towards the Wolves goalkeeper that would be hauled in for a save. Keuka would turn and burn on the Pioneers driving down the field and be rewarded with back to back corners that would be stopped by Pioneers defenders to keep the game scoreless. It would not be until the 72nd minute when Kayla Giovingo (Centereach, NY/Centereach) would find the back of the net for the Pioneers off of a header from Mackenzie Turner (Hamilton, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) courtesy of a corner kick taken by Rylee Lamphere (Little Falls, NY/Dolgeville). Five minutes later, the Pioneers would once again be granted back to back corners which would lead to Amber Piersma (Cassville, NY/Mount Markham) finding the back of the net once again assisted by Lamphere to double the Pioneers lead at 2-0. Utica would continue the offense pressure for the remainder of the game, walking away with the win by a score of 2-0.
 
Utica (5-11-2, 3-6-2 Empire 8) completes its regular season, and with a 3-1 Elmire victory, the Pioneers have been eliminated from Empire 8 Conference Tournament contention.