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The Elis have continued their undefeated streak at Reese Stadium, improving their home record to 5–0. 

The No. 9 Bulldogs (8–3, 3–2 Ivy) crushed the Great Danes (5–8, 3–3 America East) in a 17–13 contest Sunday afternoon. The Blue and White had an incredible fourth quarter and rookie attackman Leo Johnson ’25 had a nine-point performance to establish Yale’s win. 

“This is always a big rivalry game,” head coach Andy Shay said in a Yale Athletics press release. “I was really impressed with UAlbany, especially on just 48 hours rest. They gave us everything we could handle.”

The Elis scored the first three goals of the game and led the first half 10–8, with Johnson scoring the first goal of the game off a feed by attackman Matt Brandau ’23. 

Attackman Thomas Bragg ’23 brought about the next two goals in the span of one minute and 30 seconds, with assists from Brandau and attackman Kyle Zawadzki ’23. 

UAlbany had small bursts of scoring in the second and third frames, with attackman Amos Whitcomb, attackman Corey Yunker, midfielder Thomas Decker, attackman Jack Pucci and midfielder Declan Palandjian tallying goals. The Great Danes made a comeback and scored four straight goals at the end of the third frame to take a 12–11 lead. 

“I’m proud of our effort today,” Great Danes head coach Scott Marr said to UAlbany Athletics. “Unfortunately, we came up short, but we were certainly right there. We continue to make strides forward against good teams. We just need to find a way to finish.”

In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs outscored the Great Danes 6–1. The Blue and White rolled out four straight goals to tie the game with 13:38 remaining. Johnson assisted Brandau’s score with 12:55 left in the game to give Yale a 13–12 lead. 

Johnson had his best collegiate performance, tying a career best of four goals and setting new personal records for nine points and five assists. Brandau followed closely with four goals and three assists. 

On April 21, Brandau was recognized, along with 25 men’s finalists, as a 2022 Tewaaraton Award Nominee. The Tewaaraton Award is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award and honors the top male and female college lacrosse players in the nation. 

Bragg tallied his ninth and 10th man-up goals this season, and rookie attackman Chris Lyons ’25 had his fifth hat trick in his seven-game career. 

“Albany was a great team and gave us a great run,” Brandau said. “It was awesome to see Leo step up in a big way.”

Patrick Hackler ’24 tallied two points at goal and one assist, as well as having two ground balls and causing two turnovers. 

Goalkeeper Jared Paquette ’24 made eight saves over the course of the game and improved to 8–3 overall. Paquette has started and played for 642:54 this season, while goalkeeper Jack Starr ’22 has played for 34:58 minutes. 

While UAlbany led the game in shots 42–39 and ground balls 38–26, Yale had more shots on goal and successful face-offs — 26–21 and 18–16, respectively. 

The Blue and White will continue their home game stretch in their next match on Tuesday against Quinnipiac (2–9, 1–4 MAAC) at 7 p.m. at Reese Stadium. 

The Bulldogs most recently faced the Bobcats in April 2019 for their final home game of the season, where Yale conquered Quinnipiac, winning 24–8. The Yale men’s lacrosse team had a 63–28 advantage in shots and dominated 46–21 in ground balls. 

Brandau had three goals and two assists, also scoring the final point of the night and establishing the new Yale points standard for rookies at 44. All four goalies were used, including goalkeeper Jack Starr ’22, who made six saves. 

“We stuck to our principles of paying attention to details and kept working on getting better,” defender Chris Fake ’22 told the News in 2019. “Now we are starting to see the results of that effort [and] our last couple games have been better.”

So far this season, the Bobcats have only won two of their 11 games, winning only to UMass Lowell and Canisius. UAlbany has fallen to Brown, Sacred Heart, Fairfield and No. 6 Virginia, among others. 

In their most recent game on April 23, the Bobcats fell short to St. Bonaventure Bonnies 10–8. Quinnipiac outscored St. Bonaventure 4–2 in the second half, and attackman Dylan Donnery led the Bobcats with three goals, which raised his season goal total to 16. 

Attackman John DeLucia scored twice, raising his team-leading season goal total to 18, and goalkeeper Nick DiMuccio made 11 saves in the cage for the Bobcats. DiMuccio had made 141 saves during his 11 games played this season. 

Despite falling in the match, Quinnipiac led the game in shots, 45–34. 

Although Quinnipiac’s season appears to be relatively weak so far, the Bulldogs are prepared to bring it all on Tuesday and defend their home turf. 

The Elis will play their final game of the season next Saturday against No. 12 Harvard at 2:00 p.m. at Reese Stadium.