Utica Cracks National Rankings for First Time this Season
Utica, NY (10/28/14)- After being in the "receiving votes" category of the national poll for the last five weeks, the Utica College field hockey team finally cracked the top-20 in the latest NFHCA coaches poll, released Tuesday.
The Pioneers are currently No. 20, just two points behind University of Rochester, and six votes behind No. 18 DePauw University. Utica has defeated two ranked opponents this season, including No. 12 Skidmore College (4-1), which was ranked No. 3 at the time, and most recently, the University of Rochester (2-1 OT) last Wednesday.
Utica is 15-1 on the season and holds the nation's longest active winning streak at 13 games. UC is second nationally in winning percentage (.938) behind No. 4 TCNJ (.941). The Pioneers are fifth nationally in scoring average with 4.93 goals per game, and seventh in scoring margin (3.62). Utica was also ranked fourth in the North Atlantic Region in the first publicized NCAA Regional rankings, released on Oct. 22.
Senior
Hannah Mackey (Locke, NY/Moravia Central), the nation's leading goal scorer, has tallied 32 goals and 69 points. Her 2.00 goals per game and 4.31 points per game are also the best in the country. Mackey is in the midst of a 13-game goal-scoring streak in which she has tallied 25 goals. Senior
Nikki Kieffer (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) is 16th nationally and second in the conference in assists per game (.67). Freshman
Samantha Whitehouse (Greenwich, NY/Greenwich) leads the Empire 8 with a .852 save percentage and .76 goals against average. Senior
Louise Steele-Norton (Avondale, PA/Millbrook School) is eighth in the conference in points per game (1.81), while classmate
Chasity Eckert (Afton, NY/Afton Central) is tenth (1.56).
The Pioneers have two games remaining in the regular season. On Wednesday they travel to Oneonta for non-conference action beginning at 5 p.m. Utica returns home Saturday for an Empire 8 rubber match against St. John Fisher College, which is also 7-0 in conference play. The winner will take home the E8 regular season title and hosting rights for the conference tournament. Saturday's game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.