Women's Soccer | 10/25/2014 2:29:00 PM

Box | Updated stats
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host Nazareth closed out its Empire 8 Conference schedule in women's soccer Saturday as the Golden Flyers dominated Utica for a 3-0 victory at Golden Flyer Stadium.

Nazareth, ranked 22nd nationally in Division III, improved to 12-3-1 overall and 7-1 in conference games. Utica dropped to 5-10-1 and 1-6. The Golden Flyers will be the second seed for next month's conference tournament as Ithaca claimed the top seed Saturday by virtue of a 2-1 win over Hartwick. Nazareth has a pair of non-conference regular-season road games remaining -- Tuesday at William Smith at 4 p.m. and Saturday at Skidmore at 12 p.m.

Against Utica, Nazareth unleashed 24 shots at Pioneers' goalkeeper Keri Berkowitz and the Golden Flyers finally broke through five minutes before halftime as freshman Rachel Dise netted her third goal of the season after accepting a feed along the left side of the box from junior Briana Vibbard.

Nazareth continued to dominate in the second half as graduate student Christine Belding scored her seventh goal of the season off an assist from sophomore Michaela Soules in the 64th minute. Junior Danielle Wilkin then completed the scoring in the 74th minute following a nifty individual move that enabled her to bury a shot into the upper left corner of the goal for her fourth goal of the season.

Nazareth had a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks in addition to the 24-7 edge in shots. Sophomore Allison Dobles made four saves to record her fourth shutout of the season. Perhaps her toughest save came in the first half with the game still scoreless. Dobles made a finger-tip stop on a shot by Utica's Alana Fitzpatrick to preserve the shutout.

Prior to Saturday's game, Nazareth paid tribute to its six seniors, who were competing in their final regular-season home game -- Tori Ryan, Kaitlyn Sowurda, Ashtin Argentieri, Emily McGaffic, Tyler Carr and Elizabeth Howell.