Sam Rubin
By alex reedy
Staff reporter
With four wins and four losses in the first half of its season, the Yale women’s lacrosse team looked to recapture a winning record when it travelled to one-win Towson on Saturday. But, the Bulldogs ultimately came up two goals short in a hard-fought 15–13 defeat.
After two recent losses to Ivy rivals Brown and Harvard, the Bulldogs (4–5, 0–3 Ivy) headed to Maryland for their sixth nonconference match of the season. Continuing a recent trend, the Elis pulled ahead early but couldn’t run with the Tigers (2–7, 0-0 Colonial) for a full 60 minutes. A late 4–2 Towson scoring run in the second half proved to be the difference as the home squad held on for the win.
“It was an exciting and back and forth battle,” defender Hannah Burgess ’20 said. “We fought hard and are proud of the 60 minutes we put together despite the outcome.”
Yale seized an early 2–1 advantage at Johnny Unitas Stadium with goals from attackers Olivia Penoyer ’22 and captain Izzy Nixon ’19. Towson promptly answered with three straight goals, but the Bulldogs followed this with their own three-goal run to stake a 5–4 lead. Yet the Tigers again responded by scoring four of the next five goals of the game to go up 8–6 with 25:56 remaining.
While the Bulldogs kept the Tigers within three goals for the rest of the game, they were unable to find enough offense to tie the game or take the lead. Attacker Addie Zinsner ’19 netted a goal with 13 minutes left to play that narrowed the score to 11–10. However, a 4–2 run by Towson shortly thereafter rendered points from Penoyer, Gollob and midfielder Olivia Markert ’21 in the final four minutes insufficient as Yale suffered its second two-goal loss this season.
Yale’s offense featured scoring contributions from seven players, headlined by hat tricks from midfielder Jill Gollob ’22 and Markert. Markert and midfielder Sam Higgins ’21 led Yale in scoring with a combined five goals and eight points, followed by Gollob and Penoyer who finished with three points apiece. Meanwhile, Nixon earned 12 draw controls which contributed to a 21–9 overall advantage for Yale in the faceoff X.
Bulldog goalies Amelia Drake ’21 and Clare Boone ’22 each contributed time in net, registering seven total saves. Even though the match was on Townson’s turf, four Bulldogs felt somewhat at home, as attackers Rachel Anderson ’22, Anna Bowers ’22 and Isabelle Webster ’21 and midfielder Kenya Boston ’22 all hail from Maryland.
Towson’s victory marked the fifth loss in five away matches for the Bulldogs. While Yale owns an unblemished 4–0 record in the friendly confines of Reese Stadium this season, the team has struggled away from New Haven as the Elis have lost by an aggregate margin of 62–36 in their last four games on the road.
April will be packed with important matches for the Elis, beginning as Ivy League play resumes against Cornell: a prime opportunity for Yale to get back on the winning track at home. Another home match against local rival UConn will follow, after which the the Bulldogs will wrap up the season by facing off against league opponents Columbia, No. 16 Princeton and No. 20 Dartmouth.
Yale returns to Ancient Eight competition this Saturday, hosting the Big Red at Reese Stadium at 12 p.m.
Alex Reedy | alex.reedy@yale.edu