The women’s lacrosse team appears to be back to its winning ways.
The Elis, who trounced Columbia, 14-7, in New York City yesterday afternoon, are hoping the victory will help them hop back on the winning streak they had been riding for two weeks prior to last weekend’s loss to No. 3 Princeton. Yesterday’s contest once again showcased Yale’s depth — like their 19-4 win over Fairfield Mar. 30, the Bulldogs (6-5, 2-3 Ivy) managed to find playing time for all of their players and still rout their opponent.
“Everyone played tough throughout the whole 60 minutes and we never let them catch up,” captain Kerry Docherty ’05 said. “It was a full team effort. Everyone saw time on the field.”
With the win, the Elis have begun to shake off a couple of the demons that have plagued them this season, like the tendency to come out flat in away games and a propensity to allow traditionally weaker opponents to challenge them. Early in the season, when the Bulldogs took to the road, they had to be wary of starting the game slow and playing without energy. This proclivity emerged in the Elis’ first Ivy League match, against Penn. The Bulldogs stepped off the bus with stiff legs and turned in a lackluster performance, allowing the Quakers to pull off the upset. But against Columbia (5-6, 0-5), the Elis proved that they had cleared that hurdle — the Bulldogs notched the first two goals of the game, and the Lions were never able to catch up.
“It was one of those games where earlier in the season, we could have come out without a whole lot of excitement,” attacker Lauren Taylor ’08 said. “But this is one of those times that we proved we could come off a tough game, knowing that it was a rough thing to do, and we came out and really executed instead of being lethargic.”
Yale has also had some difficulty this season playing against historically weak teams. Against New Hampshire, the Elis let the Wildcats get a little too close for comfort. Yale had the halftime advantage, but UNH went on a four-goal run after the break to gain the lead. The Bulldogs were able to regain the lead off of three consecutive goals from Taylor, and snuck past the Wildcats, 10-8. Yesterday, Yale never gave Columbia an opportunity to come back. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-3 lead going into halftime, and Columbia never stole the lead away from the Elis.
“There’s always the tendency to play down to them because we were the better team,” midfielder Lindsay Levin ’07 said. “But we played strong and never let them get any momentum, so it was a pretty positive win.”
After scoring just five goals in last weekend’s game against Princeton, the Eli attack regrouped in time to make an incredible showing at Columbia. Midfielder Katie Sargent ’05 had a game-high five goals in the win while Taylor contributed three. Four other Elis, including defender Ashley Dent ’07 and attacker Katherine Peetz ’08, who notched their first and second goals of the season, respectively, scored.
“We had good ball movement and took it to them in transition,” Taylor said. “We were able to adjust on the fly, which we were looking to do as part of the game plan. It wasn’t a very set attack. There were very few plays, we just took it to them in transition.”
Goaltender Ellen Cameron ’08, who had 12 saves, shared the netminding duties with Casey Littlefield ’07 (two saves) to combine for the win in goal.
The Elis will try to take the momentum of their success against Columbia with them this weekend as they fly to California to meet Stanford Friday and the University of California, Berkeley Saturday.
“The win is a great starting place for our trip to California,” Docherty said. “Our next couple games are really important.”
[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”16041″ ]