Anthony Cittadino, Staff Writer

The Utica College women’s hockey team played SUNY Potsdam twice this past weekend, winning both with ease. The Pioneers snapped their three-game losing streak in Potsdam with a 3-0 victory on Friday over the Bears.

Junior Keira Goin helped UC with 26 saves while she recorded her sixth shutout of the season. “It’s a good feeling to know that I have a solid team in front of me,” she said. “They are the sole reason I am having as successful of a year as I am, and therefore we are as a team.”

She has also made waves across the nation, as she is ranked fourth with a save percentage of .960 and ranked fifth in goals against average, allowing only 1.00 goal a game.

Goin is truly pleased with her results so far.

“Being ranked top five is an awesome feeling,” she said. “After last season, I worked incredibly hard this summer to try to come in as strong as possible so I could hit the ground running.”

UC scored a goal in each period to seal the deal. Senior Morgan Reed netted the Pioneers’ final goal of the game.

“The overall team performance has been pretty good. I also believe our performance has improved as a team since last semester.” Reed said. “We’ve had enough time to learn how each person plays, and how to adapt ourselves to each other, allowing for better team cohesion.”

This game improved UC’s record to 10-5-1 and moved the Pioneers into third place in the conference standings with a record of 6-2-1. Reed moved up the list into fourth place for all-time goals in Pioneer history. Sophomore Meghan Power and freshman Taylor Dion each added a goal of their own to help the Pioneers over the Bears.

The Pioneers hosted SUNY Potsdam the following evening as they swept the weekend series, putting Potsdam away with a 4-2 win. The win put UC in third place in the ECAC West Conference standings with a record of 7-2-1.

UC got on the board first with two quick goals from Junior Gabrielle Schnepp and Reed for her second goal in two games. The Bears followed with their first goal of the weekend from Kady Hart late in the first period. Potsdam took advantage of a power play situation with 5:22 to go in the second period as they tied the score at two.

Not even one minute later, the Pioneers regained the lead with a goal from junior Jane Pagano. Pagano felt good about the team’s performance.

“I feel pretty good about the way that we played through the weekend,” she said. “We were passing and skating really well, something that is always crucial to winning a game. It feels really good to sweep this weekend.”

The scoring ended with a late goal in the third period for UC when Reed found Patterson at the top of the circle for the open net goal.

“We put a lot of focus on playing strong all three periods,” Patterson said. “We don’t want to be a team that waits until the last second to pick up the pace, and I feel as though this weekend we became closer to accomplishing that.”

UC improved to 11-5-1 overall and hopes to continue its winning streak as they host conference rival Neumann University in the fourth annual Shawn Grady Fund Gold Ribbon game for childhood cancer awareness this coming weekend.

Patterson and the rest of the Pioneers are ready for the challenge.

“We’re happy with where we are in the standings right now, but we are not complacent,” she said. “We’re hoping the momentum we built up these past couple games will continue to grow.”