James McClendon, Editor-In-Chief 

It was an exciting first two weeks for the young Utica College women’s soccer team. Of the 27 players, eight are freshman and seven are sophomores.

With all of these new faces, it would be expected for there to be chemistry issues, but that has not been the case.

Senior Ciara McIlvenny talked about how well the team is coming together at this early stage in their season.

“It takes time for players to mesh,” McIlvenny said. “Taking into account the fact that we have only been together for two weeks, I would say we have made great progress with our team chemistry on and off of the field.”

Senior Jamie Enders shared her teammate’s sentiments.

“Even with it still being so early in the season, I have never felt more connected to a group of girls and its definitely showing in our performance on the field,” Enders said.

The Pioneers headed into their opening matchup with Clarkson University with high expectations.

The Pioneers put forth a valiant effort, but came up short on the scoreboard, losing by a score of 1-3. The lone goal came from McIlvenny with the assist being credited to junior Keri Berkowitz.

In the matchup, the Golden Knights had 21 shots compared to the Pioneer’s three.

The Pioneers then faced St. Lawrence University on Saturday afternoon. Again, Utica gave it there all but were unable to come away with a victory. The Pioneers were unable to score a goal and fell to the Saints by a score of 0-4.

Freshman Allison Wagner wanted her team to learn from their matches last weekend and use the experience to help them play well in their next matchups.

“We are looking to come out strong against DeSales,” Wagner said. “We cannot wait to get back on the field.”

The Pioneers head back on the road this Saturday when they face a tough DeSales University team. The match begins at 1 p.m.