UTICA, NY - Utica University's women's ice hockey team is set to begin its regular season with a road game against #14 SUNY Cortland. Puck drop is set for 1:00 pm on Sunday, the 2nd, in Cortland's Alumni Arena.
Preseason Pointers: The Pioneers played in two preseason exhibitions, splitting the slate 1-1. Their season opener against SUNY Potsdam resulted in a 3-2 victory, followed by a 2-0 defeat by William Smith. Returner
Madison Richman (Scituate, MA/) and
Veronica Houk (Richboro, PA) shined in the matchup with the Bears, scoring three and two points. Richman scored the first Utica goal, before assisting on two 3rd period Houk goals to win the game. Each of the Pioneers' three goalies appeared in the two games, with
Alex Venning (Courtice, ON/) playing three periods,
Katherine Sheahan (Oak Lawn, IL/) playing two, and
Isabella Boehm (Framingham, MA/) playing one. Sheahan led the save percentage among the three by saving all 12 shots she faced. Venning made the most of her heightened time, saving 30 of 31 shots seen across the two games.
New Youth Leadership: The squad has a number of new additions this season, with several of them carrying big game experience in their career. Two players,
Chloe Needham-Potts (London, United Kingdom/) and
Nora Pollestad (Stavanger, Norway/), come to Utica with experience with their home nation's International teams. Needham-Potts, a freshman, played 10 games with Great Britain's World Juniors teams, before graduating to 10 games with the national team for the Women's World Championship. Pollestad, an incoming junior from Castleton University, played four games with Norway's World Juniors squad in 2021-22.
Grace Joscelyn (Loudon, NH/) and
Olivia Marcinkowski (Peabody, MA/) both enter as junior transfers, coming from Norwich University and Adrian College, respectively.
Red Dragon Report: Cortland's squad enters the regular season with a #14 ranking from both the USCHO and DIIIHockeyNews.com. The team will return much of a squad that saw them finish 17-5-4, with their season concluding in a 2-0 loss in the SUNYAC Semifinals. Of their 10 players wth 10+ points, all but two of them are returning, including all three players with 20+ points. Drew Kopek led the team with 21 points and 11 goals. Katie Mahoney had just one fewer goal for 20 points, joined by Kayla Persinger with five goals and a team-leading 15 assists. The team did take a big hit in net, as Molly Goergen, who played to a 1.28 GAA and .949 save percentage across her 85-game career, graduated from the school. Cortland's heir apparent is Olivia Lumpiesz, who has played in six games over the past two seasons, including the only four appearances that were not Goergen last season. In her nearly 280 minutes in net, Lumpiesz has earned a 0.65 GAA and .963 save percentage.
The Red Dragons played against Arcadia and Nazareth Universities in the preseason, including a 1-5 loss to Nazareth. The team will have its regular season opener two days before its Utica matchup in a Friday evening game against Wilkes University.
Up Next: The Pioneers will play in a home-and-home series with #8-ranked Oswego State next Friday and Saturday, the 7th and 8th. The Friday game will take place in Oswego at 7:00 pm, with Utica's regular season home opener set for Saturday at 3:00 pm.
