Mackey Breaks E8 Scoring Record

The Utica College field hockey team fought off two one-goal deficits to down host Ithaca College, 3-2, in Empire 8 Conference action Saturday afternoon. Senior Hannah Mackey (Locke, NY/Moravia Central) led the Pioneers with two goals on the day.

Mackey has now tied the Empire 8 Conference single-season goal scoring record of 27, which teammate Louise Steele-Norton (Avondale, PA/Millbrook School) accomplished in 2012. Mackey also broke both the UC and Empire 8 single-season point scoring records, as she has tallied 59 points on the year.

The Pioneers, who have now won their last nine games, improve to 11-1 on the year and 5-0 in the Empire 8. UC will return to action Sunday as it hosts E8 rival and two-time defending regular season conference champion, Stevens Institute of Technology. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Ithaca jumped out to a quick lead as Danielle Coiro netted her fifth of the year, just 2:59 into the contest. The Pioneers battled back at 11:38 as Mackey netted her first of the game. Once again, Ithaca took the lead as sophomore Colleen Keegan-Twombly tallied her sixth of the year, assisted by Coiro, at 18:28. Mackey evened the score just under ten minutes later as she took a feed from classmate Chasity Eckert (Afton, NY/Afton Central) from the top of the circle and fired a shot into the corner of the cage.

Senior Alaina Stojkovski (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) scored the lone goal of the second half on her seventh of the year to all but seal the Utica victory. The tally was Stojkovski's second game-winner of the season. Freshman Samantha Whitehouse (Greenwich, NY/Greenwich) made four saves in nearly 45 minutes of action as she registered her second victory of the season, while last year's Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, Katie Lass made ten saves in the loss for Ithaca.

The Pioneers outshot the Bombers 24-8 on the day and had a slight advantage in penalty corners at 7-6.