For the second time this season, the Yale field hockey team (6-4, 2-1 Ivy) faced off against a team ranked in the NFHCA/Kookaburra Division I Coaches’ Poll top five, and for the second time this season, the Bulldog defense couldn’t withstand the offensive onslaught. Yale surrendered three goals in the first ten minutes en route to a 7-1 loss to No. 5 UConn Wednesday night in Storrs, CT.

The first half was all Huskies, as UConn outshot the Bulldogs 15-0, with nine shots on goal. Freshman Emily Cain ‘14 made five saves for Yale before giving way to captain Katie Bolling ’11 for the second half.

“UConn is one of the top-ranked teams in the nation and they showed why in that first ten minutes,” head coach Pam Stuper said. “They have some dangerous scorers, and early on we weren’t in good positions to cover that danger. They jumped out to a comfortable 3-0 lead and from then on it was a battle “

The second half started slightly before the Bulldogs, as Erin Carter ‘12 drove home a penalty stroke twelve minutes in to get Yale on the board. But the UConn offense was just too much, as Cara Silverman and Ali Blankmeyer each tallied two scores for the Huskies, who added ten more shots in the second half for a final 25-2 edge over the Bulldogs.

“We played great at times, but it wasn’t consistent.” Bolling said. “We can learn from when our play broke down. We need to play 70 strong minutes Sunday.”

“There were times when we could take control of the game tonight,” Kirsten Krebs ’12 said. “But we didn’t sustain the intensity throughout all 70 minutes, and UConn took advantage of those moments when we had our guard down.”

The loss drops Yale’s record to 6-4 on the season.This Sunday they travel to No. 12 Boston College for another non-conference matchup.

“We know we can play with the top teams in the country,” Krebs said. “We did for much of the game today – the biggest improvement we need to make in order to be successful at BC is to play consistently the entire game.”

“You’re always excited when you see two top-25 teams on the schedule.” Stuper said. “You know you’re going to learn a lot about yourselves. But you get to take that into the second half of conference play. Was tonight a bitter loss? Yes. But I’m looking forward to BC. I wish it was tomorrow.”

That second half of Ivy League play resumes for the Bulldogs on October 16th when they travel to Dartmouth, before returning home for games against Penn and Columbia.