UTICA, NY - The No. 14 Utica University women's hockey team is set for its final road trip of the season this weekend as the team travels to Glenside, PA for a two-game set at Arcadia University. The teams will play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday before wrapping up the series at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. 
 
Follow Along: Live stream can be found here and live stats can be located here.
 
Last Time Out: The then-No. 13 Utica University women's hockey team handled business on Saturday, January 5 with a 7-1 victory over the Chatham Cougars, upping their all-time record to 34-0-1 against the team thanks to capping off the weekend sweep. Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Millbrook School) was phenomenal, having a career high five point night with a hat trick and two assists. Hailey Modlin (Phoenix, AZ/Boston Shamrocks) built on her fantastic senior campaign, scoring two goals and assisting on one. Autumn Mish (Long Lake, NY/University of New Hampshire (NCAA DI)) and Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) rounded out the scoring, each scoring a goal apiece. Madison Novotny (Wesley Chapel, FL/Northwood School) was incredible as well, tallying a career high five assists. In goal, Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) totaled 21 saves while allowing just one goal en route to the win. The Pioneers were excellent in power play chances today, converting on three of five. They have made teams pay for committing penalties all season, converting on 26.2 percent of power play chances thus far. Utica came out strong once again, threatening early on with many close scoring opportunities. Chatham's Lilly Rogers made several tremendous saves on breakaway shots by Jordan Kowalski (Chicopee, MA/Plattsburgh State (NCAA DIII)) and Erica Sloan (Potsdam, NY/St. Lawrence Steel). At the 15 minute mark, Whitney would get a premier scoring chance herself, skating ahead with nobody to beat but the goalie where she made a backhanded shot into the back of the net for Utica's first goal of the game. Penalties put Chatham in a huge hole in the second period as all three Utica goals came via power play or penalty shot. Whitney had the first goal of the frame, rifling a shot top shelf for her second of the contest. Just two minutes later amidst another power play, Modlin would net her team high 16th goal of the season. After being tripped on another breakaway chance, Whitney was awarded a penalty shot where she rose to the occasion and made a brilliant move to notch her second career hat-trick and 10th goal of the year. Chatham would stop the bleeding at the 11 minute mark as Brooke Almond snuck one into the back of the net making it a 4-1 game. Angela Hawthorne (Santa Clara, CA/Meijer) held strong during a 5-on-3 penalty kill in the waning minutes of the period, making five saves in this stretch. Utica would tack on two more goals in the third during a five minute power play stretch with Mish, Modlin, and Rylott providing the scores. Their resilience down the stretch helped the team coast to a 7-1 victory. 
 
In the Polls: The Utica University women's hockey team moved back one spot to 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 60 points this week to slip from No. 13 to No. 14. Utica defended home ice this past weekend with a series sweep over Chatham University with a 5-1 win on Friday and a 7-1 win 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 sits 16-3-2 overall and 12-2-2 in UCHC play, placing them second in the conference behind Nazareth. Entering the weekend, Nazareth holds the edge in the standings with 47 points to Utica's 39. Manhattanville is also looming in third place with 34 points. With each of the top-three teams having four league games to play, Nazareth needs just four points to secure home ice throughout the postseason (Utica's max points are 51, Nazareth owns the head-to-head tiebreaker). For the Pioneers, they will need eight points over their final four games to lock-up the second-seed in the tournament (Manhattanville's max points are 47). This would secure home ice for Utica for the UCHC Quarterfinals on Feb. 21 as well as the UCHC Semifinals on Feb. 24. 
 
The Carolina Kid: Carolyn Whitney (Raleigh, NC/Millbrook School) has been on a mission this season, most recently having a seven point weekend to help lead Utica to a series sweep of the visiting Chatham University Cougars this past weekend. In a weekend that netted her UCHC Co-Player of the Week honors, Whitney's seven points came on three goals and four assists. She also won 20 of her 30 faceoff attempts over the two games. In Friday's 5-1 win she assisted on the Pioneers' fourth and fifth goals of the game to put the contest out of reach. On Saturday, Whitney recorded her second career hat-trick, her first since the 2021-22 season, as well as a pair of assists. She started off the game by scoring the first two goals of the afternoon before assisting on the third. With Utica up 3-0 and on the penalty kill, Whitney was on a breakaway looking to cap off the hat-trick midway through the game. After being tripped, she was awarded a penalty shot which she converted on for her third goal. She assisted on the team's final goal of the game as well to finish with five points in the win. On the season, Whitney leads the team with 18 assists, and is second in goals with 10. She ranks third in the UCHC with 28 total points. Her remarkable career with the team currently places her in the Utica record books in several all-time categories. At the moment she sits sixth in assists with 68, seventh in goals with 45, and seventh in points with 113. 
 
We Thrive With 5: Hailey Modlin (Phoenix, AZ/Boston Shamrocks) continued to build on her excellent senior campaign, turning in four points across the team's two games against Chatham. She scored one goal in Friday's win and added two more goals with an assist on Saturday's 7-1 victory. Modlin has played on a different level this season, totaling 17 goals and 13 assists through 21 games thus far. The senior is scoring .81 goals per game, ranking her second in the conference and top-five in the nation. This high rate of scoring also places her on pace for seventh best all-time amongst the Utica single season record books. 
 
Magnificent Maggie: Maggie Rylott (Cobourg, Ontario/West Northumberland) had her highest point game of the season on Saturday, notching four with one goal and three assists. Her strong performance upped her season point total to 20. She has been a steady producer over the years for the team as this is her third season in a row with 20-plus points scored. Rylott also etched herself into the top-10 for career points scored in the Utica record books with 90. 
 
About Arcadia: The Arcadia Knights, now in their third season as a program, have improved each year thus far. They currently are 13-7-0 and sit fourth place in the UCHC standings. Forwards Haylee Kos and Karahkwenhawe White have led Arcadia's offense this year, each sitting amongst the top 10 in points in the UCHC. They each have 11 goals on the season with Kos providing 13 assists while White has 10. In her first year with the team, Kianna Saillant has been solid as well, scoring six goals and dishing out 12 assists. In goal, Hannah Bergeron has played very well, allowing only 1.38 goals per game, with a .938 save percentage. 
 
Series History: The Pioneers and the Knights faceoff for the fourth time since the 2021-22 season. Utica is 3-0-1 against Arcadia all-time, outscoring the Knights 25-1 in four games. The last time these teams played was on November 5, 2022, where Utica won in a shootout. During that game for Arcadia, Berklee Hibbard (1g,), Haylee Kos(1a) and Campbell Torrey(1a) each recorded one point. Knight's goaltender Jo Coates collected 40 saves. For Utica, Modlin scored the Pioneers' only goal with assists credited to Holly Silva (Boston, MA/Worcester Academy) and Hannah Keating (North Andover, MA/HPNA), while Hawthorne registered 24 saves. 

Up Next: Utica will host King's College for their final UCHC series of the year. Puck drop for the first game is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14 from the Nexus Center.