UTICA, NY – Sophomore defender Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) was named the ECAC West Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday after an impressive performance this past weekend in two victories for the nationally-ranked No. 4/5 Utica College men’s hockey team.
Borsoi scored a goal in each game during a two-win weekend for the Pioneers, the first two goals of his career. Borsoi tallied his first collegiate goal to open up the scoring on the afternoon against Elmira College on Friday. He added his second in as many nights on Saturday as he posted what proved to be the game-winner against Hobart College. Borsoi also added an assist against Elmira to give him three points on the weekend, and was a plus-3 in the two games.
He currently ranks eighth in the ECAC West in defensemen scoring with an average of .75 points per contest. Five of his six points this season have come in ECAC West Play.
Utica is 8-0 for the first time in program-history and 6-0 in ECAC West play. The Pioneers have a two game stronghold atop the conference standings and on Saturday they avenged last year’s 5-0 loss in the ECAC West Conference Tournament Championship game at nationally-ranked Hobart. As of Monday afternoon, the Pioneers are the only team in Division III men’s hockey to have played eight games and not lost or tied. Utica has trailed in a game just once all season, a 5:47 stretch in the first period, against Plymouth State on October 29th.
The Pioneers have now completed their early season ECAC West schedule and will return home this coming weekend to kick off a three game non-conference home stand at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Utica will take on nationally-ranked UMass Boston on Friday night at 7 p.m. before hosting Amherst College on Saturday at 7 p.m. UMass Boston went 23-5-3 last season and advanced as far as the NCAA Division III National Semifinals before falling to St. Norbert 8-7 in overtime.
