UTICA, NY - Utica University women's lacrosse team fell to the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles in a conference matchup on Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers had a strong start, scoring the first four goals of the game. However, the Golden Eagles fought back and took a 20-9 win as the game drew to a close.
 
Grace Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) scored five goals in the game, making up half of the total goals for the Pioneers. She also added an assist on the third goal of the game. Stuhlman managed to put a point on the board in all four periods. Thanks to this performance, the local star is now eight points away from 200 career points.
 
Jordan Kowalski (Chicopee, MA/Westfield) achieved three goals in this faceoff with the first two being in the first period. She continued her great offensive play from the game earlier in the week against SUNY Poly where she scored four goals. The Senior forward has adapted well to the offensive flow after joining the team following the conclusion of her women's hockey season back in mid-March.
 
Rounding out the goals was Maria Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), who scored in the first period with a player-up advantage. This was not the only goal of its kind during the game, as Brockport had nine penalties resulting in four total player-up goals for the Pioneers. There were 16 total cards handed out in this conference clash.
 
Bella Kolb (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) helped out with two assists in this matchup. Alyssa Specchio (Chenango Forks, NY/Chenango Forks) and Alexis Alteri (Clinton, NY/Clinton) also put points on the board with one assist each.
 
The Utica Pioneers had a strong start with four consecutive goals in the first quarter to take an early lead. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the Golden Eagles were able to come back in full force with four unanswered goals of their own in the remainder of the first period. From that point on, the Pioneers could not keep up with the Golden Eagles who scored five goals in the second period while Utica only scored twice over that same span.
 
After halftime the Golden Eagles kept up their momentum by scoring seven goals in the third period. In this same period the Pioneers only put up 2 goals against Brockport's goalie Arianna Reed. The orange and blue had some great chances in the third frame, seeing two Brockport players receive yellow cards, leading to the pair of Pioneer goals which brought the game to within five at 13-8. The Pioneers then looked for a late push, but could only come away with a single score during the fourth quarter. On the other side, Brockport netted four more goals to make the final score 20-9.
 
Utica (5-6, 2-3 Empire 8) hosts Russell Sage College on Wednesday April 16 at 4pm for an Empire 8 matchup.