UTICA, NY- The No. 3 seed Utica College women’s hockey team travels to Plattsburgh State for the ECAC West final four this weekend, hosted by the top-seeded Cardinals. Utica will face off against No. 2 Elmira College on Saturday at 12 p.m. with the winner advancing to the championship on Sunday (3 p.m.).
TICKET INFO: Tickets for the semifinal game will be sold at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena box office starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday… Ticket prices are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children (12 & under) and students with an ID.
LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers are coming off a 5-0 win over SUNY Cortland last Thursday in the conference quarterfinals… Five different players scored for UC, led by senior Morgan Reed (Fort Myers, FL/Cushing Academy) and freshman Lauren Patterson (Burlington, Ontario/Oakville), who each had a goal and an assist… Sophomores Samantha Husak (Jackson, MI/Grass Lake) and Taylor Osowski (Highlands Ranch, CO/Colorado Selects) each had two assists, while Victoria Pelton (Sterling Heights, MI/Belle Tire), Emily Coope (Phoenix, AZ/Colorado Tigers), and Carlie Smith (Grimsby, Ontario/St. Catharine’s Chaos) each had one goal… Junior goalie Keira Goin (Dobbs Ferry, NY/Hotchkiss School) turned aside all 28 shots she faced for her seventh shutout of the season.
QUEST FOR 19: Utica (18-7-1) needs just one more victory to set a new program record for wins in a season… The Pioneers had 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 POLLS: UC remained at No. 9 in this week’s D3hockey.com national rankings, released Monday… The Pioneers are also just outside the top-10 in the USCHO.com poll, currently picking up seven votes, just five behind tenth-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 season marked the first time UC finished third in the league standings since the tournament field extended to six teams in 2007-08… Utica has appeared in one ECAC West Championship game, in the 2005-06 season, after the Pioneers defeated Elmira 4-1 in the semifinals.
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. 2/3 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… Utica is 9-2 in its last 11 games, including a 4-2 victory over nationally ranked No. 1 and previously undefeated Plattsburgh State on Feb. 13.
LEADING THE WAY: Senior Morgan Reed (Fort Myers, FL/Cushing Academy) is tied for the team lead with 42 points… Her 1.62 points per game are tied with line mate Gabrielle Schnepp (Northville, MI/Belle Tire) for fifth nationally… Reed is the first player to score 20 or more goals in a season since the 2010-11 season when Megan Myers ’14 netted 21 goals… Reed is the active leading scorer with 109 points (53 goals, 56 assists) in 107 games… For her efforts, she was named second team All-Conference.
DISHING IT OUT: Junior Gabrielle Schnepp (Northville, MI/Belle Tire) is tied for second nationally with 1.12 assists per game… She leads the squad with 29 assists this season, and recently picked up her 50th career assist… Schnepp is tied with Reed for the team lead in points (42) and also ranks fifth nationally with 1.62 points per game… 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… Schnepp made her second appearance on an All-Conference team, this time taking first team accolades.
FRESHMAN PHENOM: Freshman Lauren Patterson (Burlington, Ontario/Oakville) was recently named the ECAC West Rookie of the Year, becoming just the second Pioneer to earn the honor… Patterson leads the nation in rookie scoring with 1.31 points per game and her 34 points this season rank third in program history for points by a freshman, behind All-Americans Deana Weigand and Stephanie Price… Patterson has totaled 17 points in her last 11 games.
STRONG D: Senior Janessa Haasbeek (Grand Forks, ND/Canadian International Hockey Academy) and freshman Kayla Dion (Colchester, VT/Boston Shamrocks ) were named to the All-Conference teams, released last week… Haasbeek was a second team selection, while Dion earned honorable mention status as well as a spot on the All-Rookie team… Freshman Danielle Haasbeek (Grand Forks, ND/Balmoral Hall) and sophomore Samantha Husak (Jackson, MI/Grass Lake) lead the Utica defense with a +19 and +16 plus/minus rating, respectively… Husak was also named to the D3hockey.com national team on the week on Tuesday after collecting two assists in the quarterfinal win over Cortland last Thursday.
STILL GOIN’ STRONG: Junior Keira Goin (Dobbs Ferry, NY/Hotchkiss School) currently ranks fifth nationally in save percentage (.950) and she is seventh in goals against average (1.35)… Her program-record seven shutouts this season are tied for fifth in the country.
SCOUTING ELMIRA: The Soaring Eagles, who are currently ranked No. 2/3 nationally, are 23-3-1 on the year… Their losses came against Adrian in the first game of the season, and they also fell 4-2 and 7-1 to Plattsburgh during the regular season… Elmira finished second in the conference with a 16-2 mark in league play, losing only to the Cardinals… The Soaring Eagles are led by senior Olivia Nyström and freshman Kristin Chivers, who each have 24 points… Goalies Kelcey Crawford and Kyle Nelson boast a 1.43 and 1.62 goals against average, respectively… Crawford also has a .927 save percentage, while Nelson holds a .918.
AGAINST THE SOARING EAGLES: Utica is 0-7 against Elmira in the last three years… UC is 2-4 all-time against the Soaring Eagles in the playoffs, last beating them 2-1 at Elmira on Feb. 26, 2011… The Pioneers dropped both decisions in November, falling 4-1 on the road and 2-1 at home, despite having a 1-0 lead with 5:30 minutes remaining in regulation.
THE OTHER SEMIFINAL: The winner of Saturday’s game will face the winner of the Plattsburgh-Oswego semifinal… Nationally ranked No. 1 Plattsburgh earned the top seed in the tournament after finishing the regular season 24-1 overall and 17-1 in conference play… The Cardinals’ lone loss came by way of a 4-2 victory by Utica on Feb. 13… Oswego, the tournament’s fifth seed, downed fourth seeded Buffalo State, 5-0 in the quarterfinals last weekend… The Lakers are currently 12-10-4 overall and finished 6-9-3 in league play.
