UTICA, NY - Utica University's men's soccer team will continue its conference play with another two games in the coming week. They will travel across town to face off with the SUNY Poly Wildcats at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, the 1st, before hosting the SUNY Geneseo Knights in a 1:00 pm contest on Saturday, October 4th.

Follow Along: Links to Wednesday's video stream can be found HERE, with live stats HERE. The video stream for Saturday's game can be found HERE, with live stats found HERE.

Week in Review: Utica played their second and third Empire 8 conference games, facing the winless St. John Fisher Cardinals and then-E8-best Elmira Soaring Eagles. The Pioneers cruised to a 4-2 victory in Rochester before playing host for a hard-fought 3-3 tie with the Soaring Eagles. After the recent action, the orange and blue sit at 4-2-2 overall this season, and 1-0-2 inside the Empire 8. The Pioneers have nine more games to shake up their ranking, eight of them in-conference, as they currently sit 5th.

Strength in Numbers: The Pioneers' offensive explosion in the last two games has been shared between several different players. Seven different players have at least one point in the last two games, with three of them finding involvement in multiple scoring plays. Byamungu Mugushu (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) continues his excellent season, ending the week with two goals and one assist, the only multi-goal scorer. Senior captain Noah Nassberg (Naples, FL/Gulf Coast) sat close behind Mugushu, recording one goal and two assists over the games. Freshman Henry Schweitzer (Clinton, NY/Clinton) has found success in limited time, as he netted one goal and assisted on another despite entering as a substitute in both games and playing a combined 94 minutes.

Three of Utica's remaining four point scorers earned their points by way of a goal. Mason Bucher (Rocky Point, NY/Rocky Point) netted his second of the season, with Justin Clarke (East Setauket, NY/Ward-Melville) and Jalen Lucero (Albuquerque, NM/Higley) scoring the other two. The goal was the first point of the season for Lucero, and Clarke's goal was the first point of his career. Freshman Carter Cookinham (Poland, NY/Poland) tallied an assist over the week, delivering a pass on fellow freshman Henry Schweitzer's (Clinton, NY/Clinton) goal.

Hot Shots: The Pioneers' recent games have had a consistent storyline: high shot totals. Utica's last sub-10 shot game came in their 2-1 loss against Hobart, when they were held to five shots, all in the first half. Since that game, Utica's shot total has trended up, finishing with totals of 10, 12, 12, and an astonishing 25 over their last four games, for an average of 14.8.

Mugushu has led the Pioneers with 13 shots over the four-game span, 10 of them in the last two games. Nassberg ranks next with nine shots in the last four. Schweitzer has seven shots in the span, followed by Bucher and Brandon Pender (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian), who each have five.

Who are the Wildcats: SUNY Poly has come out to a 2-6-1 record to start the season, and a 0-2 record in the E8. Their two E8 matches have come in one-goal losses to Elmira and Hartwick. Poly's two wins came in home games in their early season, against MCLA on August 31st and Skidmore College on September 6th. 

The Wildcats' offensive production has been distributed quite evenly, as just two of their 10 total point scorers have been involved on a second point-scoring play. Jael Casimir leads SUNY Poly with two goals, followed by Colby Diamond with one goal and one assist. Casimir leads the team with eight shots, followed by Marcus Cole and Dominick Spychalski, who have each have taken seven shots and recorded an assist but not yet a goal. Tyler Barth has played every minute of the season in goal for Poly, sitting at a 1.33 goals allowed average and 0.806 save percentage on 104 shots faced.

Knowing the Knights: Geneseo has played to a 5-4-1 record in their first 10 games, including a flawless 3-0 inside the Empire 8 so far. They have lost just one of their last six games and are coming off their biggest win of the season in their most recent game. Their September 27th matchup wth Russell Sage ended in a 4-0 victory for Geneseo. The Knights will host Keuka College for a matchup on Wednesday night before meeting the Pioneers on Saturday.

14 different players have recorded at least one point for Geneseo, led by Dylan Thody and Michael Ruggiero. Thody leads the Empire 8 with 16 points, joined by Utica's Mugushu as the only two players with more than 11 points. His points have come by way of six goals and four assists in his 10 games. Ruggiero has netted five goals and assisted on one to enter a three-way tie for 3rd most points in the E8. Max Crothall has played in net for all but one of Geneseo's games, playing to a 1.56 goals allowed average and 0.785 save percentage.

Up Next: Utica will continue their weekly schedule with another two E8 conference games next Wednesday and Saturday. The Pioneers will host Russell Sage on Wednesday, October 8th, in a 4:00 pm contest. On Saturday, October 11th, the team will travel to face Alfred University at 1:00 pm.