The Yale field hockey team (11-6, 5-2 Ivy) saw its otherwise spectacular 2010 season come to a frustrating end Saturday, as the Bulldogs dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Brown (6–11, 3–4) in Providence.

The loss marks Yale’s first to an Ivy League team not wearing orange and black in two seasons, but did not stop the Bulldogs from finishing in a tie for second place in the Ancient Eight.

“I don’t think we can let one game define our season,” Mary Beth Barham ’13 said. “It sucks to end on that note but we have a lot to be proud of.We obviously didn’t reach our goal of a better record, but we raised the expectations for Yale field hockey.”

The Bulldogs took a little while to settle down, relinquishing an early goal to Brown’s Leslie Springmeyer to findthemselves down 1-0 after just ten minutes. Forward Erica Borgo ’14 answered to tie things up, but thedeadlock was broken rather quickly by another Bears’ goal at 20:19.

But as they have all season, the freshmen came through for Yale yet again. Borgo struck for her second goal, this time on a feed from classmate and three-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week Georgia Holland ’14, and sent the game to halftime in a 2-2 tie.

The game remained tied until the final five minutes, when Brown’s Elara Mosquera spoiled the Bulldogs’ bid for the most conference wins in school history with a goal that Yale could not recover from. Captain Katie Bolling ’11 had six saves in her final game, but it was not enough to send her and classmates Erica Cullum ’11, Johna Paolino ’11and Marissa Waldemore ’11 out with a win.

“[Saturday]was extremely frustrating and it stinks that our last game had to end like that.” Holland said. “But we still had a great season. We scored more goals than last season, had more shutouts, and had less games go into OT.”

The team finished with 52 goals, three short of the school record for tallies in a season. Yale’s second place finish in the Ivy League was its second straight, and the Bulldogs’ 11 wins mark their second-straight double-digit win season, as well.

Saturday’s game also saw the torch passed to a new generation of Bulldogs who look poised for more success in the coming years. Yale’s two goals were generated entirely by freshmen, and Borgo’s eight goals and seven assists made her the teams leader in scoring – the first freshman to lead the Bulldogs since 1998. Georgia Holland, whose assist set up Borgo’s second goal, had 14 points out of the Yale backfield this season.

“Leading the team in points is something I never expected to happen, especially my freshman year,” Borgo said. “I think having a consistent freshman season will help me to be able to do even more next season. I learned a lot about not just the game,but the college game.I think that will help me improve even more next fall.”

The Bulldogs will also have another season with this year’s strong junior class, a group that includesmidfielder Dinah Landshut ’12, who finished just one assist shy of the Yale single season record this season and back Erin Carter ’12, who tied Borgo for the team lead with eight goals. Back Taylor Sankovich ’12 (7 goals,2 assists, 16 points) and Mia Rosati ’12 (5,5,15) were third and fourth on the team in scoring, respectively. Also coming back will be forwards Mary Beth Barham ’13 (4,4,12) and Maddy Sharp ’13 (4,0,4) who both improved their scoring this season.

“Despite yesterdays disappointing outcome, I still believe that our team progressed a lot this season as whole,”Borgo said. “Competing with top 20 teams and keeping those games close was a key factor in how I see us continuing to improve into next season. Losing to such teams is obviously not the outcome we hope for, but that we lost in overtime shows our determination and ability to not just compete with top 20 teams, but also to be one.”