UTICA, NY- The third seeded Utica College women’s hockey team opens up the ECAC West Conference Tournament Thursday evening as it hosts sixth-seeded SUNY Cortland. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets are currently on sale online and at the Utica Memorial Auditorium Box Office… Ticket prices are $8/Adults, $4/ Students (Any College Student w/ ID) or children 18 and under.
LAST TIME OUT: Utica is coming off a split against conference opponent Buffalo State last weekend… Five different players scored and eleven players tallied at least one point in the series… Senior Morgan Reed (Fort Myers, FL/Cushing Academy) and junior Gabrielle Schnepp (Northville, MI/Belle Tire) led the way with one goal and two assists each, while Emily Coope (Phoenix, AZ/Colorado Tigers), Elizabeth Dohner (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects), and Lauren Patterson (Burlington, Ontario/Oakville) each scored one goal… Junior Keira Goin (Dobbs Ferry, NY/Hotchkiss School) totaled 37 saves on the weekend.
18 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: Utica (17-7-1) needs one more win to tie the single-season program record for wins in a season (18)… The Pioneers have not won 18 games in a season since 2007-08, when they reached the 18-win mark for the third year in a row.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: UC dropped one spot to No. 9 in the latest D3hockey.com national rankings, released Monday… Utica was also bumped out of this week’s top-10 in the USCHO.com poll, however the Pioneers are still in the “receiving votes” category, just two points behind 10th ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Utica is making its 14th appearance in the ECAC West Conference Tournament in the program’s 15-year history… This marks the first time UC has finished third in the league standings since the tournament field extended to six teams in 2007-08… UC is 5-0 all-time in home playoff games and the Pioneers have outscored opponents 20-5 at home in the playoffs.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: The Pioneers finished third in the conference with a 13-4-1 record in league play… UC’s losses came at the hands of nationally ranked No. 1 Plattsburgh, No. 2 Elmira, and fourth seeded Buffalo State… 13 wins in conference play is a new single-season program record, surpassing the previous mark set by the 2007-08 version of the Pioneers, who won 12 conference games that season… UC heads into the tournament with an 8-2 record in its last 10 games… Cortland tied Oswego for fifth place in the conference standings with a 7-10-1 league record, however Oswego picked up the fifth seed as it beat and tied Cortland in their meetings this season.
QUARTERFINAL QUEEN: Senior Morgan Reed (Fort Myers, FL/Cushing Academy) has totaled 10 points (eight goals, two assists) in the conference quarterfinals in the last three seasons… She has also scored a hat trick in the quarterfinals in each of the last two years… She currently leads the team with 20 goals and is second on the squad with 40 points… She is the first 20-goal scorer in a single season since Megan Myers ’14 scored 21 goals in the 2010-11 season… Reed is also just the fourth player in program history to score 100 points in a career… She now has 107 points (52 goals, 55 assists) in 106 games.
SCHNEPP LEADING THE WAY: Junior Gabrielle Schnepp (Northville, MI/Belle Tire) leads the team with a career-high 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists) this season… She also recently picked up her 50th career assist… Schnepp is fifth nationally in points per game (1.68) and she is tied for the national lead in assists per game (1.16)… Reed and Schnepp became the second and third players in the last nine years to score at least 40 points in a season… The last time UC had two 40+ point scorers in the same season was back in 2006-07 when All-Americans Deana Wiegand (49) and Stephanie Price (46) completed the feat.
30-POINT PLATEAU: Freshman Lauren Patterson (Burlington, Ontario/Oakville) is the first freshman in five years and just the fourth player in program history to score more than 30 points in her rookie season… Patterson needs just one more point to match All-American Megan Myers ’14 total of 33 points (21 goals, 12 assists) as a freshman… Patterson is tied for the national lead in rookie scoring with 1.28 points per game and her 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) rank third on the team.
SPREADING THE WEALTH: 17 different players have found the back of the net this season… Emily Coope (Phoenix, AZ/Colorado Tigers) is fourth on the team with five goals, followed by Kayla Dion (Colchester, VT/Boston Shamrocks ), Carlie Smith (Grimsby, Ontario/St. Catharine’s Chaos), and Elizabeth Dohner (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects) who are tied for fifth on the team in goals, with three each.
STRONG DEFENSE: The pair of Danielle Haasbeek (Grand Forks, ND/Balmoral Hall) and Samantha Husak (Jackson, MI/Grass Lake) lead all defensive players with a +18 and +15 rating on the season, respectively… Haasbeek has one goal and seven assists in her freshman campaign, while Husak has scored twice and added five assists.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Junior Keira Goin (Dobbs Ferry, NY/Hotchkiss School) ranks eighth in the nation with a .947 save percentage and she is 11th in goals against average (1.41)… Her school-record six shutouts also rank seventh nationally.
SCOUTING CORTLAND: The Red Dragons are making their second straight conference tournament appearance after finishing the year 11-12-1 overall (7-10-1 ECAC West)… Most recently, Cortland picked up a sweep against William Smith in league play last weekend, winning 2-1 in overtime and 4-2 the following day… Cortland has five players with 10 or more points on the season, led by senior Laura Drew, who has a team-high eight goals and nine assists this year… Classmate Deanna Meunier has a .917 save percentage and 2.69 goals against average in 21 games between the pipes.
AGAINST THE RED DRAGONS: Utica is 13-1-1 against Cortland in the last five years… Earlier this season, the Pioneers topped the Red Dragons 3-0 and 1-0… Gabrielle Schnepp (Northville, MI/Belle Tire) had one goal and two assists, while Morgan Reed (Fort Myers, FL/Cushing Academy) and Lauren Patterson (Burlington, Ontario/Oakville) each had one goal and one assist… Janessa Haasbeek (Grand Forks, ND/Canadian International Hockey Academy) had three assists on the weekend, and Emily Coope (Phoenix, AZ/Colorado Tigers) scored the lone goal in Sunday’s win.
LOOKING AHEAD: Thursday’s winner will advance to the ECAC West final four next weekend, hosted by top-seeded Plattsburgh State… Plattsburgh and Elmira earned first round byes after finishing first and second in the conference, respectively… The winner of the other quarterfinal (#4 Buffalo State vs. #5 Oswego State- Saturday 3 p.m.) will also advance to the final four… Plattsburgh will take on the lowest remaining seed with Elmira facing the highest remaining seed… Game times are to be determined.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Make sure to follow live updates of the game on the Pioneers official Twitter feed: @UCPioneers… If you are at the game and on Twitter, or talking about the game on Twitter, make sure to use #UCMoose… You can also “Like” the Pioneers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCpioneers … Fans can also follow the Pioneers on Instagram: UCPioneers.
