WOMEN’S SOCCER: Bulldogs fall to Oregon State and Colgate
At two home games this weekend, the Bulldogs lost to Oregon State on Friday and Colgate on Sunday.
Lukas Flippo, Photo Editor
The Yale women’s soccer team fell 6–1 to Oregon State University at Reese Stadium last Friday, followed by 2–0 loss to Colgate on Sunday.
The Bulldogs (0–4–0, 0–0–0 Ivy) met the Beavers (5–0–0, 0–0–0 Pac-12) for Yale’s third game of the season and second on its home turf. Though the Elis fought hard, outshooting their opponents with 11 shots, both Oregon’s defense and offense dominated the game. The matchup added a third loss to the Bulldogs’ record.
“We are punished when we make mistakes and we’re not punishing other teams when they make mistakes. Goals change games,” head coach Sarah Martinez said. “Our group is still bought in — they believe, we as staff believe, and I do think that when we start clicking, the results will come.”
The Bulldogs started off the Friday game against Oregon in attack position with two shots in the first five minutes and an offensive corner. The Beavers were quick to retaliate, with forward McKenna Martinez, assisted by midfielder Sawyer Service, scoring the first goal of the game in the 13th minute. In the first half, the Beavers scored three goals from five shots, one of which was saved by Yale goalie Annie Welch ’25. The Bulldogs’ defense, including Emily Clorite ’23, Molly Fallek ’24 and Kristen Enriquez ’22, worked hard to defend their side, as the offense, notably Alanna Butcher ’25, continued to search for a shot. At the whistle, Oregon was up 3–0.
The Elis returned to the field motivated and ready to fire back in the second half and looked hard for opportunities at goal, with Ellie Rappole ’25 skillfully dribbling down the left flank. Oregon pressured the ball, however, and was able to score three times in 16 minutes. Despite the uneven score, Ellery Winkler ’23 pushed the ball up the left flank in attack and was granted a penalty kick that resulted in a rebound goal — the Bulldogs’ first and only of the game. Soon after, Yale put in their subs.
For the remainder of the game, ball movement remained on Yale’s side of the field, and Oregon State received two yellow card fouls, the second of which took Yale’s Giana Pittaro ’23 off the field for the remaining minutes of the game with a temporary injury. With this win for the Beavers, they remain undefeated in their season.
Then, the Bulldogs hosted Colgate (3–2–0, 0–0 Patriot) on Sunday in a rainy afternoon game. Yale and Colgate tied in their last two matches against one another, in 2016 and 2018. Looking to earn their first win of the 2021 season, the Bulldogs maintained aggressive pushes into Raider territory but were unable to score throughout the game. Additionally, graduated players — defender Christine Oberhausen ’21 and defender Alexandra McCraven ’21 — were honored before the game in a celebration ceremony that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the first half, the Bulldogs attempted a number of attacks that failed to appear on the score sheet. Midfielder Chloe Laureano ’25 took all four of Yale’s corner kicks, while the Raiders were unable to earn any corner kicks in the first half. Yale attempted four shots across the first 45 minutes: Winkler in the fourth minute, Laureano in the 36th, Reina Bonta ’22 in the 38th and Sarah Jordan ’22 in the 41st. Both teams only had one save apiece in the first half, but the referees called the Bulldogs offside three times to Colgate’s singular offside mishap.
The rain, which had begun before the game, escalated midway through the first half as Yale introduced three substitutions in the 24th minute, Jordan, forward Mia Grillo ’25 and forward Emily Yin ’22. These substitutions marked a change in pace that drove the Bulldogs forward in the game with three of Yale’s four shots in the first half taken after this shift.
In the second half, Yale’s defense began to stutter with minor mistakes that created enormous opportunities for the Raiders. In the 52nd minute, Colgate forward Ally Giovino shot directly at the goal and the ball deflected off of Welch’s hands before entering the net. Two minutes later, Giovanna Dionicio ’23 was substituted for Pittaro after an injury in the Raiders’ territory. This send-off strained Yale’s stretched defense, and a minute later, Hannah Pinkus deflected a Raider corner kick taken by Ruby Diodati ’22 into the goal for Colgate’s second tally.
Welch, Yale’s starting goalkeeper, has played all minutes of the Blue and White’s four games — a total of 364. Despite the losses, Welch told the News that “right when the whistle blows, [nerves] go away.”
“I think from a defensive standpoint on Friday, we made some crucial errors from an organizational standpoint,” Martinez told the News on the pitch Sunday. “Today, we were locked in defensively. From an organizational standpoint, we didn’t really make many mistakes. We got scored on in a turnover as we were building out of the back.”
Following Colgate’s second goal, Yale began to play more dynamically with a constant possessive turnover. The Bulldogs attempted five more shots and five corner kicks in the half but were unable to score. The game ended with another corner kick from Laureano in the last minute, but the Elis remained scoreless.
Following the game on Sunday, several members of the team declined requests for interviews.
Women’s soccer will travel to the University at Albany this Thursday for their fifth game of the season.