UTICA, NY - A pair of Pioneer defenders have been named Pioneer Athlete of the Week, with Zachary Accetta (Rocky Point, NY/Rocky Point) of men's soccer and Gianna Marcantonio (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) of field hockey achieving the feat. Marcantonio received her first career Pioneer honor.

Utica defender Gianna Marcantonio (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) was integral to a Pioneer team that only allowed three goals and scored 12 in a pair of Empire 8 wins against Russell Sage and Keuka. The orange and blue backliner was all over the field, generating stops on defense while also powering the offense to the tune of two goals and three assists, racking up seven points despite mainly playing from the back of the formation. Marcantonio now has points in her last five games, and goals in four of her last five outings. 

Marcantonio and the field hockey team will hit the road this Wednesday, heading to Nazareth for a 6:00 PM battle with the Golden Flyers. The team will also return home this Saturday for a Senior Day showdown with Brockport 2:00 PM.  

Accetta and the Pioneers hosted two strong Empire 8 opponents in St. John Fisher University and SUNY Brockport, defeating both in 2-0 battles. The senior netminder played a pivotal role in both of the results, saving all 21 shots on target he was tasked with. While a five-save shutout of the Cardinals started the week strong, it was his 16-save clean sheet against the Golden Eagles that stole the show. It was the most saves in a game by a Utica goalkeeper in almost exactly a decade. Accetta has now played 272:33 consecutive shutout minutes, raising his 2026 save percentage to a .931, the best in the nation across all three NCAA divisions.

Accetta will look to keep up his impressive form this coming week, when the men's soccer team heads to Russell Sage and Nazareth. The team will take on the Gators at 4:00 PM on Wednesday before meeting Nazareth at 1:00 PM on Saturday.