In its first two games of the season, the women’s soccer team went 1-1 in the Connecticut Cup over the weekend.

Goalkeeper Sarah Walker ’05 shut out the University of Hartford (0-3-0) on Friday night in a 2-0 victory for the Bulldogs (1-1-0) and followed up that performance yesterday with eight saves in a 2-0 loss to No. 9 Connecticut.

“Walker was the standout this weekend,” team captain Lee Anne Jasper ’04 said.

On Friday, the Elis and Hawks were knotted at zero with 11 minutes left when midfielder Laurel Karnes ’06 and forward Vanessa Resnick ’05 sealed the game for the Bulldogs, connecting for two goals in the game’s final minutes.

Resnick beat Hawk keeper Heather Hinton off of a Karnes feed at 79:53. Less than nine minutes later, Karnes made a run up the left side of the field and worked a give and go with Resnick to earn Yale its second goal of the game with a left foot shot to the right corner of the net.

“I just knew it would go in,” said Karnes, who was the Elis’ second leading scorer last season.

Walker made one save in the contest.

“We played really hard both games,” midfielder Lindsay Weening ’06 said. “Especially in the Hartford game, our intensity was 100 percent.”

Yesterday, the Elis faced the Huskies on one day’s rest, while Connecticut suited up for its first game in eight days.

“I could definitely feel the wear and tear of the Hartford game,” Karnes said.

After 35 minutes of scoreless soccer, Connecticut finally got on the board at 37:56 on Jessica Gjertsen’s fourth goal of the season.

In the second half, Walker prevented the Huskies from pulling away with a series of acrobatic saves, including a point blank save off of a header from an unmarked Connecticut player.

“[Walker has] been amazing, she definitely kept us in the game today,” Jasper said. “She made three or four outstanding saves.”

The Huskies’ relentlessness paid off at 67:18 when Brittany Barakat beat Walker to the left corner to give Connecticut a two-goal lead.

Despite the loss, Yale remained positive about its performance.

“Compared to last year’s [1-0 loss to Connecticut,] we had a much better game this year,” Karnes said. “We had more shots [and] more chances.”

The Elis also had success in filling the void left by center midfielder and former captain Ali Cobbett ’03 with the three-person rotation of midfielders Jasper, Christina Huang ’07, and Maureen Metzger ’05, Jasper said.

“We’re connecting a lot more passes and defending well,” she said.

Along with Huang, the Elis received contributions from other freshmen in the two games.

“The ones that are starting and the ones that have come off the bench have really stepped up,” Jasper said.

The Bulldogs return to action against Georgetown University (0-3-0) Sept. 12 on Cape Cod to open the ECAC Classic.

With four days of practice in between games, Yale came away from the weekend aware of its strengths and weaknesses.

“We were slightly unorganized at the top,” Walker said. “We just couldn’t string anything together [against Connecticut].”

Despite the loss yesterday, the Bulldogs are off to a good start, Jasper said.