UTICA, NY - Utica University's women's lacrosse team went on the road to continue its early-season schedule. In a contest against the Plattsburgh State Cardinals, the Pioneers had a productive opening quarter, scoring half of their goals in a 10-4 victory. The orange and blue had a balanced attack, spreading the 10 tallies between seven separate players. Utica returns to action next Saturday in a road matchup with the Buffalo State Bengals.

Seven separate Pioneers ended with one or more points in the outing. Senior captain Jessica Marciano (Churchville, NY/Churchville Chili) led the team with three goals and one assist. Fellow attacker Alyssa Specchio (Chenango Forks, NY/Chenango Forks) joined her as the only player with multiple goals (two), and the only player with an assist. The remaining Utica goals were split between Belicia Biette (Troy, NY/Columbia), Alexis Alteri (Clinton, NY/Clinton), Anna Nitti (Brewster, NY/Brewster), Bella Kolb (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford), and Lindsay Pilla (Watervliet, NY/Shaker). Specchio led the team with six draw controls, followed by Marciano's three as the only other Pioneer with more than one. Fellow senior captain Ella Stanton (Macedon, NY/Palmyra-Macedon) led the team with five ground balls, additionally being the only member of Utica with more than one caused turnover (two). Junior goalie Makayla Purdy (Shirley, NY/William Floyd) completed the win in net, making five saves.

The Cardinals' goal-scoring was split between three players. Abby Guasconi scored two goals, the only multi-point scorer for Plattsburgh. Ellie Macdonald and Cynthia Barnosky scored the home team's remaining tallies. Ashley O'Hara and Erica Dickinson added assists. Aimee Lieman played all 60:00 in the crease for the Cardinals, making nine saves.

Marciano netted the opening score of the game just 1:39 into play. Kolb followed suit, elevating Utica to a 2-0 lead at the 10:53 mark. Barnosky responded for the Cardinals just over a minute later, but Pilla scored for Utica just 34 seconds after play restarted to restore the two-goal lead. Biette added a goal for the Pioneers at the 8:20 mark to finish the run of scoring. Just over three minutes later, at the 5:16 mark, Plattsburgh's Guasconi scored a man-advantage goal, followed by Marciano netting her second at the 4:25 mark to end the first quarter with the orange and blue up 5-2. 

Both teams scored half of their goals for the entire game in the first 15:00. Utica was the only team to score in the second quarter, with Marciano completing her hat trick 2:50 into play. Just over two minutes later, Specchio added an unassisted goal to allow Utica to enter halftime up 7-2. It took 8:13 of play in the third for Guasconi to score her second for Plattsburgh. Specchio netted her second with 26 seconds remaining in the frame to give the Pioneers an 8-3 lead after 45:00. The Cardinals pocketed the first goal of the fourth quarter 7:35 into the frame, with Macdonald scoring the team's final. Nitti and Alteri scored goals with 5:42 and 2:01 left, the first of the season for each player, to complete the 10-4 final score.

The Pioneers return to action next Saturday, March 7th, when they travel to Buffalo State to take on the Bengals. Opening draw is set for 1:00 pm at Buffalo State's Coyer Field. Utica next returns to their home field on March 17th in a matchup with the University of Rochester.