UTICA, NY - Field hockey's 25th anniversary season goes on this week as they head to Morrisville today to wrap up their non-conference slate, before welcoming Houghton for some Homecoming havoc this Saturday. The team will look for some momentum on the road against the Mustangs before looking for a signature win this weekend over the Highlanders. The game against Houghton will also be preceded by football's game against Alfred State, with halftime of that earlier game seeing the celebration of Utica field hockey great Jenny Lounsbury, who will be inducted into the Pioneer Hall of Fame later this week. The Morrisville game will begin at 4:00 PM later today in Morrisville. This Saturday's matchup against Houghton will take place at 5:00 PM, directly after the completion of the football game beforehand. Catch up on all things Utica field hockey headed into this week of important games!
 
You can stream both of this week's games by heading to these links or by clicking the "Watch" button under each matchup on our field hockey schedule page:
 
At Morrisville streaming link (Tuesday): Utica at Morrisville
 
Vs Houghton streaming link (Saturday): https://www.empire8network.com/utica/
 
You can follow live stats for each matchup by heading to these links:
 
At Morrisville Live Stat Link: https://morrisvillemustangs.com/sidearmstats/fhockey/summary
 
Vs Houghton Live Stat Link: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/fhockey/summary
 
Jenny Lounsbury/Pioneer Hall of Fame Class of 2025: This weekend, the Utica Athletics Department will be officially inducting a new class of Pioneer royalty into the Pioneer Hall of Fame. With an official induction ceremony scheduled for later this week, four Pioneer legends will see their names added to a special catalog of the school's greatest stars. Among them will be legendary Utica field hockey goalie Jenny Lounsbury, who achieves entry into the Hall of Fame after a stellar career in the early days of the program.
 
Lounsbury anchored the goal for the Pioneers during the initial years of the field hockey program. Her lockdown presence in the cage led the Pioneers to some incredible early success, with the team posting a combined record of 29-7 during her junior and senior years, coupled with a New York State Championship in 2003 and an ECAC Semifinal Appearance in 2004. Lounsbury also stifled the opposition enough to send the Pioneers to their first-ever national ranking during her senior season, with the team reaching as high as 12th in the country during the 2004 campaign. Lounsbury picked up a bevy of accolades for her stellar play, including being an NFHCA All-Region First Team selection, NFHCA Division III North All-Star, and an All-Empire 8 First Team selection, with all these honors coming during her senior year alone. She also showcased excellence in the classroom, grabbing two NFHCA National Academic Squad honors. Lounsbury still holds the program's best career save percentage (.828), goals allowed average (1.35), while also posting the most career shutouts (14) and second-most career goalie wins (33). Lounsbury, a native of Saratoga Springs, NY, has also flourished after graduating from Utica, picking up her Master of Science in Forensic Science from the University of New Haven, and her PHD in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, and going on to become a Forensic Scientist IV with the Texas Department of Public Safety, a role she currently holds today. Lounsbury also continued her field hockey career after graduation, as she is currently a goalkeeper for the United States Masters Field Hockey over-40 team, competing in some impressive tournaments across the world (Nottingham, England in March of 2024 and Cape Town, South Africa in October of 2024).
 
Her accomplishments will be honored at halftime of this weekend's homecoming football game, and the field hockey team will face off with Houghton immediately after the conclusion of that prior contest. The football game is scheduled for 1:00 PM and the field hockey matchup will take place directly after at 5:00 PM
 
Meeting Morrisville: Before a big weekend, though, the Pioneers will look for success tonight against the Mustangs. The two teams have met four times before, meeting in back-to-back years twice, with the first two meetings coming in 2012 and 2013, and the second meetings coming in 2022 and 2023. In all four of those meetings, the Pioneers emerged victorious by multiple scores, alternating home and away wins as they defeated Morrisville by scores of 8-1, 8-0, 4-0, and 8-1 during that undefeated stretch.
 
Morrisville is 2-3 in the 2025 campaign, with wins against a pair of Empire 8 representatives, Elmira (3-1) and Keuka (5-4 OT). The Mustangs' most recent game against the Wolves was an exciting one, as a hosting Morrisville side found an equalizer with less than two minutes remaining in regulation to knot the score at four, before finding a game-winner in overtime to seal a comeback victory.
 
The star in that Morrisville victory was freshman phenom Lilly Bagg, who had a heroic hat trick, scoring the final three goals for the Mustangs, including the last-minute equalizer and the game-winning goal. The Nineveh, New York native leads the black and green with four goals in 2025, also collecting an assist in her first few games at the collegiate level.
 
The only Mustang with more points than Bagg is sophomore playmaker Melissa Beaver, who tops the point charts with 10. Beaver has been an all-around excellent attacker for Morrisville, grabbing three goals and four assists in her five games this season. Beaver, along with fellow forward Bagg, has also had the majority of the shots, with the two players combining for 23 of the team's 40 total attempts. It will be up to the defensive duo of Ryleigh Johnson (Camden, NY/Camden) and Keeley Savona (Kingston, NY/Kingston) to match the Mustangs' top two attackers in tonight's action.
 
In the cage, junior goaltender Emmaly Noeller has received all five starts for the team, posting a 4.21 goals allowed average in her 213 minutes of play while grabbing 38 saves at a 71.7% rate. Despite the Noeller's heavy workload, sophomore Jillian Buczkowski has also seen significant time in the cage, having a 4.67 goals allowed average in her 90 minutes of play.
 
Scouting the Highlanders: Houghton will present a tough test on Saturday, with the potential to enter the weekend contest with a record of 5-1, should they beat Keuka Wednesday night. The Highlanders have a trio of wins over Pennsylvania-based sides Lancaster Bible (3-0), Neumann University (3-2), and Lycoming College (3-0). They also took down Oswego by a 2–0 final to start the season out 4-0. The common denominator in those matchups was the location, as part of the unbeaten start could be lent to the fact that Houghton faced all four opponents on home turf. In the Highlanders' first road test, they fell to Hartwick in both teams' Empire 8 last Saturday by a score of 0-4.
 
The Pioneers have an advantage in the recent series against Houghton, taking a majority of the post-2011 meetings between the two teams to post a 9-4 total record during that span. The Pioneers are looking to get back on track though, as they've fallen to the Highlanders in four out of the last five meetings dating back to 2020. Despite that, Utica started off the 2010's hot, winning eight straight games to begin that run. The team will look to get back to its 2010's form against the Highlanders.
 
The biggest obstacle for the Pioneers comes in the form of junior forward Adria Hartzler, who powers the Highlander attack with a team-high four goals on the season. After Hartzler, the Highlanders are an extremely balanced bunch, having a pair of players with two goals (Kylee Barshinger, Lilyana Good), and a trio of players with one goal (Ava Kramp, Davannah Dunn, Olivia Ocker). In terms of playmaking, the purple and gold have two players with two assists each (Ava Kramp, Campbell Bowers), and three players with one assist (Kylee Barshinger, Lilyana Good, Courtney Walbridge). All this goes to show the balanced nature of the Highlanders' offense, as they can strike from numerous different spots. It will be a team defensive effort on Saturday for the Pioneers as they look to halt this attack.
 
In the cage, Houghton has gone with senior goaltender Annika Galen in all five of their outings this season. Galen has a superb goals allowed average of just 1.00 in her 240 minutes of play, also producing two shutouts during that time. Galen has saved 17 shots at an 81% rate in the early season. Amber Cribbs has proven to be a reliable backup option, posting a 2.00 goals allowed average in her 60 minutes of play.
 
After Homecoming: The Pioneers will have a single matchup the following week, heading to Keuka on Saturday for a matchup with the Wolves. That game is slated for a 12:00 PM start at Keuka Park.