Empire 8 Honors Steele-Norton and Thomas
The Empire 8 Conference has selected Utica sophomore Louise Steele-Norton and Elmira junior Lauren Thomas as the field hockey players of the week.
Steele-Norton had four points in Utica's two games last week. She had the lone goal in UC's 3-1 loss to Oneonta on Wednesday. On Saturday she netted the game-winner in the Pioneers' 3-1 win over Hartwick to clinch the #2 seed in the E8 Tournament. On the season, Steele-Norton has a league-best 22 goals and is amongst the national leaders in goals and points per game.
The Pioneers (12-5, 4-3 Empire 8) are the number two seed in the Empire 8 Field Hockey Tournament. They will play St. John Fisher College in the semifinals Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Thomas earned Empire 8 Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week honors after making a remarkable 39 saves in three contests this week. On Thursday against Keystone she stopped 12 shots giving up just one score in a 2-1 win. Saturday she stopped nine shots against Washington and Jefferson. Sunday against Stevens, Thomas had a huge performance stopping 18 shots and keeping the game scoreless until halftime against powerhouse Stevens. The Soaring Eagles end the season with five wins, the most in the program since they won six games in 2005.