UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's lacrosse team welcomes Hamilton College on Tuesday, March 5 at 5 p.m. The team will then hit the road for a matchup against Castleton University on Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m.
 
Follow Along: Live video and live stats for Tuesday's home game against Hamilton can be found here. Saturday's live video can be located here with live stats available here. 
 
Last Time Out: The team won in thrilling fashion against the Wilkes University Colonels 9-8 on Saturday, March 2 as Head Coach Sean Behan collected his first win as a Pioneer. The Pioneers scored six goals in the second half compared to Wilkes's three which propelled them to the victory. Sam Serrano (Stone Ridge, NY/Roundout Valley) and Caiden Frey (Accord, NY/Roundout Valley) combined for nine points and 10 shots on goal. Sam Serrano (Stone Ridge, NY/Roundout Valley) posted three goals and three assists while Frey registered three goals and one assist. Ryan Considine (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) (2g, 1a), Noah Erickson (Auburn, NY/Auburn) (0g, 2a) and Connor Costanza (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) (1g, 1a). Patrick Oswald (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) had one of the best games of his career, posting a career-high 21 saves. Oswald collected 16 saves in the first half.  10 different players had at least one shot on net. Jack Hogan (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) went 13 for 20 and collected seven ground balls. Both teams combined for 12 shots on goal in the first quarter, 10 by Wilkes and two by Utica. Patrick Oswald (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) made some great saves in the first 15 minutes, recording seven. Utica cleared the ball at a 100 percent rate, going seven for seven. Wilkes struck first with 9:23 on the clock. Tim Hartka found Joseph Markey, giving the Colonels an early 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Austin Seames assisted Hartka, extending the lead to 2-0. At 5:12 in the quarter, Anthony DelDuca notched Wilkes's third goal. Utica's first goal came with eleven seconds remaining as Sam Serrano (Stone Ridge, NY/Roundout Valley) found Caiden Frey (Accord, NY/Roundout Valley), cutting the lead to 3-1. Two minutes into the second quarter, Serrano scored his fourth goal of the season as Utica cut into the 3-2 Wilkes lead. Both teams combined for three goals, two for Wilkes and one for the Pioneers. Utica would head into the half down 5-2. The team saw three players collect at least one point while Serrano led the way with two (1g, 1a). The combination of Serrano and Caiden Frey (Accord, NY/Roundout Valley) was firing on all cylinders throughout the game. With 11:09 left in the third, Serrano notched his second goal with a Caiden Frey (Accord, NY/Roundout Valley) assist as Wilkes would lead 5-3. Wilkes would score two more goals in the quarter, heading into the fourth quarter up 7-3. The Pioneers scored a flurry of goals in the fourth quarter. Utica scored two goals in the first 11 minutes of play. First, Serrano scored with an assist credited to Ryan Considine (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) and about three minutes later, Connor Costanza (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) scored his first goal of 2024, cutting the lead to 7-5. At 6:57, Frey tallied his second goal of the afternoon while Erickson collected his second assist. Utica tied the game up at 8-8 as Considine scored with 1:47 left in regulation. Utica and Wilkes would decide the winner in overtime as regulation was not enough time to do so. It would take two overtimes to decide the end result. Caiden Frey (Accord, NY/Roundout Valley) scored his third goal and the game-winner with an assist to Costanza as the Pioneers would hang on and win 9-8.
 
Player of the Week: Junior goaltender Patrick Oswald (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) has been off to a hot start in 2024. He currently leads the Empire 8 with a 10.40 goals-against average and a .584 save percentage. 

Men On a Mission: The attack trio of Sam Serrano (Stone Ridge, NY/Roundout Valley),  Ryan Considine (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) and John Spoto (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) is Utica's key to success after they combined for 12 goals and six assists in the first three games. It is unusual for an attackman to lead a team in ground balls, let alone 17 which is tied for fifth in the Empire 8. Considine has four goals and two assists to accompany his scrappy ground ball and riding play. Serrano continues to give opposing defenses headaches as he always seems to find the back of the net in the most prominent times. His three goals against Wilkes came in the second quarter (one), third quarter (one) and fourth quarter (one) to keep Utica within striking distance at all times of the game. The duo of Considine and Serrano connected two times within four minutes, giving the Pioneers a heavy dose of momentum heading into overtime as the Pioneers would win 9-8 in thrilling fashion.  
 
Clutch Caiden: Caiden Frey (Accord, NY/Roundout Valley) took matters into his own hands against Wilkes as he scored the double-overtime game-winner. Frey scored Utica's first and last goals, recording the first hat trick of his career. His three goals and two assists both rank third on Utica this season.
 
FOGO Specialist: Jack Hogan (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) stands in the top four in the E8 with 33 faceoff wins for a .589 percentage. Against Wilkes, Hogan went 13 for 20 at the faceoff X while winning seven of eight between the fourth quarter and two overtimes. 
 
Man Down, No Problem: Utica leads the league with its ferocious man-down defense, allowing only four goals on 20 attempts (.800 percent). Long stick midfielder Andrew Sacco (New Haven, CT/North Haven) has caused havoc in the middle of the field as of late; against Wilkes, he posted four caused turnovers and five ground balls. 
 
Scouting Hamilton: Hamilton College enters Tuesday's matchup with a 1-0 overall record and is 1-0 in NESCAC play. The team's lone win came on Saturday, March 2 against Bates College, winning 21-8 behind Thomas Healy's seven points (3g, 4a) and Will Heher's six goals. Hamilton is coming off a 2023 season where they went 7-8 overall and 4-6 in league play. In 2023, the team was led by senior Torben Winderel who scored 42 goals and 30 assists and senior Rowan Brumbaugh who had 27 goals and 33 assists. The Continentals return 2023 All-NESCAC Second Team LSM Jayme Wilde, who also won the same award in 2022. After one game, the team has 10 different players that have at least one point recorded. Attackmen Jesse Delinsky has three goals and two assists, attackmen Frank Coyle has four goals, midfielder Justin Pearl has two goals and one assist, Christian Byrne (0g, 3a), Milo Trabulsy (2g, 0a), John McKinnon (1g, 0a), Ryan Howard and Zach Lucchini (0g, 1a). Between the pipes is junior Jack Fried who collected 13 saves in 50 minutes while posting seven in the first half. 
 
Scouting Castleton: The Castleton University Spartans are 0-1 overall and have not played a LEC game yet this season. The team is coming off a 16-6 loss against SUNY Delhi on Saturday, March 2. In 2023, the Spartans went 4-13 overall and 1-7 in league play. Chris LaBonte and Sean Kimura led the team with over 25 points each. LaBonte had 24 goals and five assists, Kimura had 10 goals and 16 assists. The team will play New England College on Wednesday, March 6 at 4 p.m. before hosting Utica on Saturday, March 9 at 1 p.m.
 
Up Next: Utica travels to Canton, NY for a matchup with SUNY Canton on Saturday, March 16 at 1 p.m.