ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Coming off of a big 4-0 midweek victory over Keuka College, the Elmira College field hockey team has its sights set on another home win at the Murray Athletic Center, when the Purple and Gold host SUNY Geneseo at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 1st.

LAST TIME OUT: The Elmira women delivered their most complete performance of the season with a 4-0 victory over the visiting Wolves of Keuka College. The Soaring Eagles came out strong from the get-go and were awarded five penalty corners between the seventh and 10th minutes, before finally coming through off of a corner entry in the in the 11th minute. Atu Machika '18 tallied the first goal after redirecting a shot from Alison Mariano '18 on a corner inserted by Sarah McCaffrey '18. Inside the final five minutes of regulation, McCaffrey tipped in a Machika shot and Julia Derco '17 released a bullet through the arc on another corner entry to build the four-goal advantage. Julie Hockenberger '18 made seven stops in goal for EC and recorded her third career complete-game shutout.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: The Soaring Eagles have had another trying season on the road, but at the Murray Athletic Center, Elmira has looked like a completely different team. Yes, EC dropped its first two home contests of the year, but the first such game went to double overtime with still-undefeated Oswego State, while the latter was a 1-0 loss to Houghton, where the Highlanders nettted the winner off of a corner with no time remaining in regulation. This time around against the Wolves, EC started off strong and was able to carry the momentum throughout the entire 70 minutes. Perhaps most notable has been the play of Hockenberger at home. She lowered her goals-against average at the MAC to 0.91 with the shutout of Keuka.

SCOUTING SUNY GENESEO: A SUNYAC Tournament semifinalist a year ago, the Knights found the month of September to be a difficult one. Geneseo concluded the first half of the schedule with a 1-8 overall record, with their only win coming over SUNY Oneonta on September 23rd by a 4-1 final score. The Knights have had two true road games, and including a pair of games at Vassar's Betty Richey Tournament, are 0-4 away from College Stadium. Geneseo ranks second-to-last in the SUNYAC in goals-against average (3.44). Junior transfer Nicole Gregg has assumed the starting role in the cage in her first season with Geneseo. The former Morrisville State goalie has played every minute through the first nine games of the season and boasts a .640 save percentage and 55 saves.

SERIES HISTORY: The Knights have been a tough puzzle for the Soaring Eagles to solve. In the 12 previous meetings between the two programs, Geneseo has come away victorious on 11 occasions. EC's lone win over the Knights came in 2003 in Geneseo by a score of 2-1.

UP NEXT: Following the conclusion of Saturday's contest, Elmira's season-long four-game homestand will have two remaining games. Next weekend, the Purple and Gold host Empire 8 Conference foes, Hartwick College and Stevens Insitute of Technology, in back-to-back games on Saturday, October 8th, and Sunday, October 9th. Both bouts are slated for 1:00 p.m.