After playing a scoreless double-overtime game against Cornell Saturday, the men’s soccer team proved their goal-scoring prowess.
Yale (4-1-2, 0-1-1 Ivy) exploded for three goals in the first half en route to downing cross-town rival Quinnipiac (4-4) in a 3-2 decision Wednesday. The Elis were led by Stuart Yingst ’03, who netted his first two goals since suffering a stretched MCL in preseason.
“He’s a lot more mobile now,” head coach Brian Tompkins said of Yingst’s progress. “He’s such a combative and competitive guy that now he’s getting closer to being back to full speed and it’s really helping the team.”
The Bulldogs struck early in the game when Andrew Dealy ’05 tallied his fourth goal of the season in the sixth minute off a pass from Ryan Raybould ’05. Dealy received the ball from the right side and fired a curving shot into the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, Yale increased its lead when Raybould crossed another ball, this time to Yingst. The midfielder tapped it in to give the Elis a quick two-goal lead.
“I think we did a good job of just getting ahead,” said Lindsey Williams ’05, who had an assist in the game. “We haven’t really been ahead all season, we are usually tied or coming from behind.”
The two-goal lead did not last for long, however. Braves junior Everson Maciel extended his point streak to 22 straight games in the ninth minute when he capitalized on a penalty kick after a questionable tripping call.
“He definitely went down, but whether it was caused by one of our guys or by his own gravity–I couldn’t really tell,” Tompkins said.
The Bulldogs responded in the 22nd minute as Williams muscled past a defender in a one-on-one, then crossed to Yingst, who put the ball past Braves goalkeeper Kevin Kelley for his second goal of the game. The score at halftime stood at 3-1.
“We did a good job stifling them for much of the first half,” Tompkins said. “Then in the second half they changed the way they played and they were a bit more offensive-minded, which means they forced us to defend more.”
The second half was characterized by increasingly physical play and both teams were awarded numerous fouls and yellow cards.
“The game got a little chippy there for a few moments, and I think both teams got a little frustrated,” Colin Stirrat ’03 said.
Quinnipiac again cut the Bulldog’s lead to one when Alex de Faria one-timed the ball past Yale goalie Russ Stroud ’04 in the 74th minute to make the score 3-2. That was as close as the Braves would get.
Yale was unable to extend its lead late in the game when captain Brian Lavin ’02 misfired on a penalty kick.
“[The penalty kick] gave them a second wind for the last seven to eight minutes so we really had to be paying attention,” Tompkins said.
In order to shut down Maciel, who has scored 52 points in the past 22 games, Tompkins assigned Brian Roberts ’04, the Yale-Fila Classic MVP, to mark the Braves striker.
“We finished pretty strong and even though they got that goal, the defense held them pretty comfortably I thought,” Stirrat said.
Tompkins was happy with his team’s play.
“Our intention was to go and pressure them and try to force them into mistakes early in the game,” he said. “We were quite successful in that and we were able to capitalize on the turnovers and create quite a bit of danger. I was pleased that we were able to turn our possessions into goals and take control of the flow of the game.”
Yale will have to continue to take advantage of possessions Saturday, when they face Dartmouth in their third Ivy League game of the season.
“Dartmouth is going to be a counter-attacking type of game,” said Tompkins. “I think we need to continue to work on having good rhythm in our play and I think mostly right now it’s just about getting our legs back.”