muscosportsphotos.com

The No. 4 Bulldogs (7–2, 3–1 Ivy) will face No. 17 Brown (6–4, 1–2) in Providence on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. for their last away matchup of the season. 

Last Saturday, the Elis demolished Dartmouth, winning 23–6. The Yale men’s lacrosse team had a season-high in goals scored — the most since a 24-goal game against Quinnipiac on April 23, 2019 — and also a season low of six goals allowed, the fewest since Yale’s defeat of Albany on April 19, 2019. 

“I’m pleased with our focus on a short week,” head coach Andy Shay said to Yale Athletics after the game. “I thought our details were very good, and when that happens we spread the ball around.”

The Blue and White last faced the Bears on April 13, 2019, where Yale won 17–12 and clinched a spot in the Ivy postseason tournament. The Senior Day game brought 1,266 fans to Reese Stadium, and defenseman Chris Fake ’22 had a great game, causing three turnovers. 

“Brown is always a very tough team,” attackman Matt Brandau ’23 said. “They are playing with a lot of confidence after beating Penn last week. This week will really test our grit.”

The Bears have a 6–4 record so far this season, winning against Quinnipiac, Vermont, Villanova, Providence and No. 8 Penn. Brown has faced losses to North Carolina, No. 9 Harvard, UMass and No. 2 Princeton. 

The Bears most recently added a 12–10 win to their season against Penn on April 9. After experiencing a 5–0 deficit in the first frame, Brown was able to secure its first conference win of the season and cause a major upset, as Penn was ranked No. 10 and Brown was unranked at that time. 

“It was a great team win,” head coach Mike Daly told Brown Athletics. “I’m proud of the guys for grinding the past few weeks. They earned it and played their tails off today. This was a 100 percent player-earned win and credit to our seniors for getting our team prepared for the game.”

Midfielder Ryan Aughavin, attackman Devon McLane and midfielder Reed Moshyedi all tallied four points over the course of the game, and goalkeeper Connor Theriault made 13 saves. It was Brown’s largest comeback since its six-goal deficit in its March 8, 2020 game over Virginia. 

Defenseman Colin Hart and midfielder Trevor Yeboah-Kodie both finished the game with five ground balls, which was Hart’s second straight week with five and was Yeboah-Kodie’s career-best. 

Faceoff specialist Matthew Gunty went 11-for-23 (.478) and had four ground balls, contributing to the Bears’ 31–27 advantage in that statistic. 

Despite Brown’s slow start to conference play, having lost to Harvard and Princeton, its most recent defeat of Penn has amped them up for this weekend’s matchup. Ready for the challenge ahead of them, the Bulldogs are excited to add a fifth triumph to their winning streak. 

“Brown is a great team and will be a tremendous challenge for us this week,” attackman Thomas Bragg ’23 said. “They are coming off of a huge win last week so I am excited to see how we respond.”

For the second time this season, Brandau has been selected to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s Team of the Week, most recently on April 12. 

AMELIA LOWER
Amelia Lower covers football, men's ice hockey and men's lacrosse. She is a senior in Jonathan Edwards College from Rye, New York, double-majoring in Spanish and the History of Science, Medicine and Public Health.