The Yale women’s lacrosse team celebrated its nine graduating seniors with a win against Columbia on its annual Senior Day this past Saturday at Reese Stadium. The Bulldogs beat Columbia 9–6 after starting all nine of its seniors.

Yale’s seniors started the game in an aggressive fashion, dominating Columbia to take a 5–0 lead early in the game.

“We have the biggest and most talented senior class that we’ve had in a long time,” said midfielder Tori Virtue ’16. “Despite the distractions and emotions that accompany Senior Day, our team had a solid start to the game with all nine seniors leading us out on the field, and we took an early lead which carried us through the game.”

Although Columbia won the opening faceoff, strong defense by the Bulldogs helped Yale take the lead. Columbia was unable to score until the very end of the first half, finally finding the back of the net with 2:40 remaining before halftime.

In the second half of the game, Columbia went on a tear, only to be met by the Bulldogs’ resilience. After Columbia scored three times in a row attack Nicole Daniggelis ’16 netted a goal, pulling the Elis to a score of 9–5.

The Bulldogs endured the temporary loss of a player due to a yellow card with less than 12 minutes to go. Although Columbia tacked on another goal with 6:20 remaining, goalkeeper Erin McMullan ’14 blocked any further shots by the Lions.

“In terms of our performance on Saturday, we all know we could’ve played better as a team, but I’m still proud of the fact that we were able to pull out the win,” said captain Adrienne Tarver ’14.

At the very end of the game, Tarver controlled a Columbia pass that got away to claim second place on the school’s all-time ground balls list, with a total of 99.

Defenseman Maggie Moriarty ’16 said the win was great for Yale’s standing in the Ivy League and that the contribution the seniors have made to the team has not gone unnoticed.

“Our record has improved each of the last four years,” Moriarty said.

After beating Columbia, Yale looks forward to games against Cornell and Brown, which will determine the Bulldogs’ place in the Ivy League Tournament.

“We are looking at the rest of the season as a chance to prove that we deserve a spot in the Ivy tournament,” Virtue said. “One game down yesterday and two more to go in order to make that happen.”

While the team is excited about the win, Tarver said the Elis intend to take it one game at a time in order to put forth their best effort.

The Bulldogs are set to face Cornell in Ithaca next Saturday.

CAROLINE HART