Utica Stretches Win Streak to 8

10/8/2014 8:02:00 PM

UTICA 6, Brockport 1
The Utica College Field hockey team used four second half goals to down the College at Brockport, 6-1, in non-conference action Wednesday afternoon.  Senior Hannah Mackey led the Pioneers with four goals.
 
Mackey moves her season goal total to 25, just two short of teammate Louise Steele-Norton (Avondale, PA/Millbrook School)'s single-season conference record of 27, which she collected in 2012.  She also has 55 points, just one shy of the single-season school record, also held by Steele-Norton.
 
The Pioneers stretch their win-streak to eight and improve to 10-1 on the year.  Utica will return to conference play this weekend as it travels to Ithaca College on Saturday (12 p.m.) before returning home to face E8 rival, Stevens on Sunday (1 p.m.). 
 
Utica jumped out to a quick lead just 2:22 into the game as Mackey netted her first of the day, unassisted.  The Pioneers padded their lead just five minutes later as Chasity Eckert tallied her ninth of the year, assisted by Nikki Kieffer.  The Golden Eagles were able to get one back as Margo Tremaine tipped in a shot from teammate Abby Eschen to spoil UC's shutout hopes. 
 
The second half was all UC as the Pioneers tallied four unanswered goals, including three from Mackey.  Utica's fifth goal came as senior Louise Steele-Norton picked up the ball around midfield and ran down on a 3-on-1.  Steele-Norton pulled the defender to her before sending a pass to a wide open Mackey, who fired in her league-leading 25th goal of the season. 

Senior Alaina Stojkovski capped off the scoring at 67:50 with her sixth of the season, assisted by Kieffer.  Colleen Dowling also added an assist and junior Kells Casey made one save in 56 minutes of work, before senior Olivia Cunningham took over in the final 14 minutes. 


Geneseo 3, NAZARETH 1
Visiting Geneseo outscored Nazareth 3-1 in a non-conference field hockey game Wednesday afternoon.  The Knights battled from a 1-0 deficit and scored three straight goals to earn their fourth win of the season.  They improved to 4-8 overall while the Golden Flyers dropped their fifth straight game and fell to 6-9.
 
Catherine Willard, who leads Nazareth in scoring, put the Golden Flyers on the scoreboard with a goal at 11:14 off an assist from Kristina Back to take an early 1-0 lead.  Geneseo's Kailey Suhr tied things up 1-1 at 24:21 with an unassisted goal after her initial shot hit the goalpost. 
 
Geneseo went up 2-1 just three minutes later when Sarah Malinak scored her first of two goals at 27:06 after collecting her own rebounded shot off the goalkeeper's pads. 
 
Nazareth had some key scoring opportunities to tie the game about 10 minutes into the second half.  Several penalty corners were awarded to the Golden Flyers and Nazareth had several shots on goal including one that was saved by Geneseo defender Liz Doherty.  The Knights called a key timeout to stop Nazareth's momentum.
 
Malinak scored the insurance goal at 56:31 off an assist from Clara Bates to give the Knights a 3-1 lead.  That goal was scored player-down while Nazareth was serving a green card penalty.
 
Geneseo had a 16-10 advantage in shots while Nazareth had a 9-7 edge in penalty corners.
 
Shannon Winney played all 70 minutes in goal and made seven saves for the Golden Flyers.  Geneseo's Dayna Mercer had five saves.


New Paltz 4, STEVENS 2
The Stevens Institute of Technology field hockey team fell by a score of 4-2 against New Paltz in a non-conference matchup at the DeBaun Athletic Complex Wednesday evening.
 
New Paltz moves to 8-4 with the win, while the Ducks fall to 5-8 in the loss. Stevens will move on to play a pair of key Empire 8 road games Saturday and Sunday at Elmira College and Utica College, respectively.
 
Stevens had the game's best chance in the early going, but freshman Victoria Alvarez was denied via a defensive save from junior Sarah Sansone following a great individual effort off the near post.
 
After creating several quality chances off the penalty corner, the New Paltz jumped out to a 1-0 edge in the 12th minute when sophomore Kayla McKeveny was able to put in a shot thanks to an assist from sophomore Erin Landy.
 
New Paltz – which controlled much of the possession and field position in the first half – was able to go on top 2-0 thanks to a great effort from McKeveny. On the play, McKeveny carried in along the left end line, warding off two defenders before scoring.
 
Early in the second half, Stevens nearly sliced the Hawks' lead in half when junior Dailyn Brook inserted to junior midfielder Erin Silvestri. Silvestri controlled before hammering a shot on goal that squarely hit the left post before deflecting out of bounds.
 
Moments later, the Ducks were able to trim the margin to one (2-1) when Brook buried her ninth goal of the year, converting a penalty stroke with 28:39 left in regulation.
 
New Paltz was able to answer with 17:29 to go, but the Ducks fought back within one, getting a score from freshman forward Victoria Alvarez. Alvarez received a pass from sophomore midfielder Nolie Prouty and the rookie lifted a shot from the right side that eventually deflected in off a New Paltz defender.
 
The Hawks notched a back-breaking score with 7:29 to play, pushing their lead back to two goals (4-2) when a marvelous save from Stevens' sophomore goalie Emily Stukenborg resulted in a rebound and score for freshman Justin O'Reilly.
 
Stevens had three solid chances late – two off penalty corners and one more on a cross – but junior goalie Alayna Wageman and the New Paltz defense was able to keep the Ducks off the board the rest of the way.
 
Stukenborg made 15 saves on the day for Stevens as New Paltz finished with a 30-14 edge in shots. The guests also had a 17-7 margin in corners and placed 20 shots on the goal. Freshman Cassidy O'Hearn tallied her team-high fifth defensive save of the season for the Ducks in the loss.


Oswego 3, ELMIRA 0
The Elmira College field hockey team (1-9) fell 3-0 to Oswego State (4-7) today. Mikayla Rebusmen '17 made six saves in the net for the Soaring Eagles.
 
The Lakers found the back of the net 8:21 into the first half of play. The Purple and Gold defense held strong for the remainder of the half as Oswego held on a 1-0 advantage at halftime. Oswego outshot the Soaring Eagles 5-2 in the half.
 
Oswego scored two more goals early in the second half to lead the EC women, 3-0. Over the last 20 minutes left of regulation, the Soaring Eagles went on the offensive sending an array of shots towards the Lakers' netminder but could not slip one through as the EC women fell, 3-0.