Yale Athletics

This past Sunday, the Yale women’s soccer team (2–1, 0–0 Ivy) traveled to Corvallis, Oregon, to take on the Beavers of Oregon State (1–2, 0–0 Pac-12) at Paul Lorenz Field. 

Oregon State, one of the last two remaining teams in the Pac-12 Conference, looked to secure their first home win of the season. The Yale women’s soccer team hoped to get even with the Beavers: they fell to the team 6–1 three years prior. 

“With a quick turnaround between St. John’s and Oregon State, we didn’t get a ton of time on the field,” wrote head coach Sarah Martinez. “Our staff spent a lot of time with our group doing team and individual film to prepare for this match. With an off day on Friday, we flew out west on Saturday morning and had a quick training session when we got here. I felt my staff did a great job with the scout to allow us to prepare for Oregon State and our women executed the game plan well.”

Although they traveled over 3,000 miles for the game, Marz Akins ’25 wrote to the News that the team managed to keep spirits high.

“Despite a long travel day, our energy was great before the game,” she wrote. “Of course, we forgot to bring our speaker on the plane, but the team managed to sing our favorite hype-up songs acapella before kick-off.”

The first half of the game saw a hard-fought head-to-head battle. Though both the Beavers and the Bulldogs attempted to place shots past one another’s goalie, neither team had anything to show for it going into halftime.

After the half, however, the Elis finally dampened the Beavers’ hopes of securing victory.

“At half-time, we challenged our group to be cleaner in the final 1/3 and continue to exploit Oregon State in the wide areas and they came out doing that at a high level,” Martinez wrote. “I felt this was our most complete performance this season, and I’m excited to keep growing from it.”

That’s precisely what Martinez’s team did. 

Four minutes after the break ended, midfielder Ellie Rappole ’25 raced past the defense and sent a shot soaring into the corner of the goal, breaking the 0–0 score and putting Yale ahead by one. 

Coach Martinez noted Rappole’s significant impact on the team’s performance on the field. 

“Ellie is one of the best attacking players in our conference,” she wrote to the News. “She creates so much, has a constant engine and a real knack for the goal. She’s a huge part of what we are doing and playing at a very high level.”

Not long after Rappole’s goal, she would again aid the Bulldogs in extending their lead, this time through an assist to teammate Akins. Akins’ first goal of the season came just ten minutes after Rappole’s.

Akins wrote about the excitement surrounding her first goal of the season and the preparation that went into it.

“It was amazing scoring my first goal of the season so early on,” she wrote. “Capitalizing on set pieces has been drilled into us all preseason, so it was incredible to finish on a corner kick.”

Kyla Holmes ’27, the Yale goalkeeper, had her second shutout in a row for the Bulldogs, earning herself two saves. 

One in particular exemplified her athleticism when, in the 83rd minute, she dove near the post to stop a Beaver goal. 

The Bulldogs return for a homestand at Reese Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 5, and Sunday, Sept. 8. They will face Stony Brook University (2–1–1 CAA) and Fordham University (3–1–1 A10), respectively.