muscosportsphotos.com

Though the Bulldogs were outshot in each of their games this weekend, the scoreboard was all for the Blue and White as they secured a pair of 1–0 victories against Boston University and Fordham. 

The Elis’ (3–0–1, 0–0–0 Ivy) hot start is a big turnaround from last year’s disappointing 3–14–0 finish. 

“This season feels very different to last year,” sophomore Ellie Rappole ’25 wrote to the News. “Last year we were a collection of talented individuals. In the past nine months, we have all worked extremely hard to become closer as a unit on and off the field.”

The close unit’s victory against BU (2–4–0, 0–0–0 Patriot) proved to be a difficult one. The Terriers had a 4–1 advantage on shots on goal, but it turned out the Bulldogs only needed one shot to seal the win. In the 21st minute, defender Belle Golden ’26 fed the ball to Alanna Butcher ’25, who got it past BU goalkeeper Gretchen Bennett.  

This victory came after the Bulldogs lost to the Terriers 1–0 last year, where they were also outshot 17–6. 

“A gritty effort from our whole team for 90 minutes today,” head coach Sarah Martinez said to Yale Athletics. “BU is a good team that is relentless in everything they do. What is great about our team right now is they are finding ways to get results even when things aren’t perfect. We have a team that believes in each other and that has been a difference in many of our results.”

The closest threat to goalkeeper Maya Bellomo’s ’25 net was in the second half when she defended a corner kick from BU. Bellomo had four saves this Thursday.

The Bulldogs took to Reese Stadium again on Sunday to play Fordham, where the game proved to be even more difficult. 

With 16 shots to Yale’s five, six of which were on target, Fordham still did not manage to score a goal on Bellomo. With another shutout performance, Bellomo was the undisputed star of the day. 

Towards the end of the second half, which was stopped momentarily due to weather conditions, Bellomo shined as she dove and knocked away two close shots from the Rams.

Yale had only one shot on goal that day, late in the first half, which started with a long pass from midfielder Chloe Laureano ’24 to forward Ashley Kirschner ’26 in the box. Kirschner got her first career goal by shooting one past Rams goalkeeper Maria O’Sullivan.

The match against Fordham lasted over three hours from the initial kickoff due to lightning detected close to Reese Stadium. However, that didn’t stop the fans.

Droves of students came to the game after attending the Yale Up pep rally to cheer on their fellow classmates.

“The atmosphere was fun,” sophomore Alex Vantassel ’25 wrote. “Yale dominated for the most part, so everyone was pretty cheerful. Of course there was some bickering to the opposing team, but for the most part the crowd was supportive. Getting excited at the times when we almost scored, applauding defensive play, stuff of that sort.”

The Blue and White will travel to Kansas this weekend to play against Kansas State on Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET and University of Kansas on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET.