Box Score GENESEO, N.Y. – SUNY Geneseo sophomore forward Sarah Malinak and senior forward Kayla DeAngelis scored first-half goals, but it was Utica bouncing back with three unanswered tallies to take a 3-2 win in field hockey, Wednesday afternoon.
Geneseo (3-3) got thing going in the 12th minute after senior midfielder Kim Sherman controlled a rebound in front of the Utica net off a save by Pioneer goalie Kells Casey and fed Malinak who scored from close range. DeAngelis made it a 2-0 Knights lead less than six minutes later, taking a feed from sophomore midfielder Elena Hingston and connecting on an eight-yard shot.
Utica (5-1) got on the board with less than four minutes to play in the first half as Louise Steele-Norton took a short pass from Colleen Dowling and finished off a scramble in front of the Geneseo goal to make it a 2-1 game at halftime.
The Pioneers controlled much of the play in the second half, evening the match in the 46th minute on a 10-yard shot by Alaina Stojkovski , before Steele-Norton scored the eventual game-winning tally on a 12-yards blast in the 64th minute.
The Knights finished with one last flurry, putting five shots on goal in the final three minutes of play, but four stops by Casey and a Pioneer defensive save prevented the equalizer.
Sophomore Dayna Mercer registered eight saves in goal for Geneseo as the Pioneers outshot the Knights 23-15.
Geneseo returns to action next Friday (Sept. 27) with a road match at New Paltz to open the SUNYAC portion of its schedule. Faceoff is set for 4:00 p.m.
