UTICA, NY - The No. 14 Utica University women's hockey team enters its final week of regular season play as the team welcomes the King's College Monarchs to the Utica University Nexus Center. The teams will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14 as well as at 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 17. 
 
Follow Along: Live stats and video can be found here for both games. 
 
Last Time Out: No. 14 Utica took down the Arcadia University Knights 4-1 on Saturday, February 10. Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) led the team with two points as she had one goal and one assist. Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel), Ava Suda (Cheektowaga, NY/Buffalo Bisons), Cortney Staniszewski (Buffalo, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles), Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Millbrook School), Kelsey Elliott (Attleboro, MA/East Coast Wizards), Jordan Kowalski (Chicopee, MA/Plattsburgh State (NCAA DIII)), Emma Corbett (Rochester, NY/Adrian College (NCAA DIII)), and Tess Barrett (Tewksbury, MA/St. Mark's) each recorded one. Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) had another stout performance in goal making 23 saves while allowing just one goal, good enough for a strong .958 save percentage. Utica and Arcadia were scoreless in the first period with the Pioneers having 13 shots on goal compared to the Knight's seven. Utica led the way in the faceoff department, 11 to eight. Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) started in goal for Utica recording 12 saves, while Arcadia netminder Hannah Bergeron had 21. Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) picked up where she left off as she tallied her eleventh goal of the season and 72nd of her career. Utica struck first 1:31 into the second period as Sloan notched a power play goal, giving the team a 1-0 lead. It was another tight period with the Pioneers outshooting Arcadia 14 to 10 and winning the face off battle 11 to 7. Utica took a 1-0 lead into the final period of play. The Knights struck quick scoring at the 5:51 mark to knot the game at 1-1. However, Utica continued to fire off shots and retook the lead at the 11:18 mark as Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Millbrook School) sniped the back of the net to put the Pioneers up 2-1 off assists from Ava Suda (Cheektowaga, NY/Buffalo Bisons) and Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland). Just four seconds later the horn sounded again with Cortney Staniszewski (Buffalo, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles) giving Utica a firm 3-1 advantage off apples from Jordan Kowalski (Chicopee, MA/Plattsburgh State (NCAA DIII)) and Kelsey Elliott (Attleboro, MA/East Coast Wizards). The Pioneers kept the pressure on as Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) added an empty netter with 59 seconds to go off a feed from Emma Corbett (Rochester, NY/Adrian College (NCAA DIII)) and Tess Barrett (Tewksbury, MA/St. Mark's) to secure the 4-1 UCHC victory for Utica.
 
In Polls: The Utica University women's hockey team remained No. 14 in this week's US College Hockey Online Women's Top 15. The poll was released Monday by the national college hockey website. The Pioneers received 39 points this week to hold the No. 14 spot in the poll. The Pioneers went on the road this past weekend and swept Arcadia University with a 2-0 win on Friday and a 4-1 victory on Saturday. The entire Division III women's poll can be found at https://www.uscho.com/rankings/d-iii-womens-poll/. 
 
Where we Stand: Utica is ranked second overall in the UCHC with 45 conference points, eight behind Nazareth University. With at least one point on Wednesday, the Pioneers can clinch the second seed in the conference playoffs. The top eight teams that have clinched are Nazareth, Utica, Manhattanville University, Wilkes University, Arcadia University, Alvernia University, Chatham University and King's College. Utica currently leads the UCHC with 98 goals, 3.2 goal margin, 11 short-handed goals and 11.35 points per game. The Pioneers rank third in NCAA Division III with 98 goals and 163 assists. Defensively, Utica ranks tenth in scoring defense, allowing 1.04 goals per game. 
 
Not Today: Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) continued her excellence over the weekend against Arcadia, allowing only one goal on 37 shots for a .973 save percentage. The senior hasn't missed a beat this year allowing less than a goal per game (.98) with a conference best .951 save percentage. She holds a spectacular career .948 save percentage which ranks atop the Utica record books and currently sits fifth all-time in career saves with 1,376. 
 
Knocking on the Door: Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel) scored three goals in the last two games, upping her career total to 72. She now sits two shy of tying the program record of 74 held by Deana Wiegand and Megan Myers. Her three goal weekend brought her career point total to 148, surpassing Georgiana Santullo (Woburn, MA/Boston Shamrocks/Woburn High School) (147) for second all-time in the Utica record books. Sloan has scored 11 goals and provided 11 assists for 22 total points on the season, ranking third amongst the team. In 2023, she scored two goals in the team's series against King's. The graduate student will look to etch herself in history while helping the team compete for a UCHC championship in the coming weeks. 
 
About King's: The King's College Monarchs are 5-17-1 overall and 4-13-1 in UCHC play. The team's most recent matchup was against Chatham University where they went 1-1 on the weekend, defeating them 2-1 on February 9 and falling on February 10, 3-1. After winning eight games in their first five years as a program, the team has improved slightly in this sixth year, winning five thus far. The team has scored 38 goals thus far, also the most in a single season for them. The scoring is led by a freshman forward, Abby Barlocker, who has scored six goals. The team point leader for the second straight season is Amanda Sokol, who has five goals and six assists through 23 games. Syd Dahl and Hayley Packer have been mediocre in net, each allowing over three goals per game with Dahl being more efficient, accumulating a .913 save percentage. 
With the victory against Chatham over the weekend, they clinched a playoff berth for the first time in program history where they will be the eight seed in the UCHC tournament. 
 
Series History: Utica is 10-0 all-time against King's, dating back to 2017-18. The Pioneers have outscored the Monarchs 81-2 over the 10 games played, allowing only two goals in 2019. Last season, Utica beat King's in dominant fashion by a combined score of 20-0. 

Up Next: Utica will host the UCHC quarterfinals from the Nexus Center on Wednesday, February 21 at a time to be determined. They will host either Alvernia or Chatham in the matchup.