| Elmira vs. Utica |
| Game Details |
Saturday, Oct. 14 | Pine Valley, N.Y. | 1:00 p.m. |
| Game Coverage |
Live Stats: Stats Link |
| Utica Links |
Roster | Schedule | Stats |
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Looking to build off of Tuesday's non-conference victory over Wells College, the Elmira College field hockey team continues its season-long homestand on Saturday, October 14, with a 1:00 p.m. contest against the Pioneers of Utica College.
LAST TIME OUT
Against non-conference rival Wells on Tuesday, the EC field hockey team put on an offensive show in a 6-3 victory at the Murray Athletic Center. Six goals are a new single-game season high for the Soaring Eagles and are the most scored by Elmira since setting a program record with 14 in a 14-2 drubbing of Cedar Crest College back in 2013. Senior classmates
Katie Carroll '18 and
Alison Mariano '18 paced the Purple and Gold with two goals apiece. Mariano netted EC's first two goals, the latter of which sparked a 4-0 run that bridged the first and second halves. She also added an assist for a career-high five points. Carroll tied her career high with two goals and her second put the Soaring Eagles ahead 5-1 in the 55th minute.
Atu Machika '18 and
Emily Selbert '18 also had multi-point games, as both scored one goal and Machika earned one assist. Standout freshman
Janie Kempf '21 chipped in with one assist as well. Earning the victory between the posts was
Tina O'Donnell '20, who amassed eight saves in 64:36 to secure her first-ever win.
BREAKOUT SEASON
Alison Mariano '18 entered her senior season with 13 career points (4g-5a), but through the first 12 games of 2017 she's nearly surpassed her point total from her first three seasons combined. The Walpole, Massachusetts, native has set career highs in points (12) and goals (5), and ranks second on the team in both categories. Tuesday's win over Wells marked the first multi-goal game of her career.
MACHIKA MOVING UP
Three-time Empire 8 All-Conference honoree
Atu Machika '18 has continued her climb up the leaderboards in Elmira's all-time record book during her senior season. Following her three-point performance against Wells, the fourth-year midfielder is now ninth all-time in career points with 32 and is just four shy of surpassing Sarah Dake '06 (35) for sixth place. Additionally, Machika is tied for 10th in goals (11) and tied for seventh in assists (10), needing just four more helpers to tie the program's career record.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Utica enters the weekend with an even 6-6 overall record and a 3-3 mark against Empire 8 Conference opponents. The Pioneers fell to .500 after suffering back-to-back losses over the weekend. Utica played a 10-win SUNY Cortland team and Washington & Jefferson, which is 4-0 in conference play, to a pair of 2-1 losses in its last two outings. On the other hand, the Pioneers are one of only two teams to beat SUNY Oneonta this season and they boast E8 wins against Stevens, Houghton and Nazareth. Utica is ranked fifth in the eight-team Empire 8 in both scoring offense and scoring defense, as it has scored 2.08 goals per game, but has allowed an average of 2.42 per game. Offensively, junior Rylee Meelan (7g-4a) and freshman Sabrina Whitehouse (5g-3a) have proven to be a powerful one-two combo, as they lead the squad with 18 and 13 points, respectively. Meelan is tied for fifth in the league in goals and sixth in assists, while two of Whitehouse's five goals have gone down as game winners. In goal, Sabrina's older sister, Samantha Whitehouse, has been a workhorse for the Pioneers, as she's played all but 9:25 minutes. The senior keeper ranks second in the E8 in saves (112), saves per game (9.33) and save percentage (.794).
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's matchup between the Soaring Eagles and Pioneers will be the 19th in the all-time series. The two sides have met every season since Elmira debuted as a varsity team back in the fall of 2000. Since then, the Pioneers have claimed an 11-6-1 lead in the series and have won four straight. EC's last victory over Utica came during the 2012 season, when the Soaring Eagles doubled-up the Pioneers by a 4-2 score.
LOOKING AHEAD
Elmira will conclude its four-game homestand on Monday, October 16, when the Soaring Eagles host Bryn Mawr for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference contest at the Murray Athletic Center.
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