Yale Athletics
On Friday, Oct. 25, the Yale Field Hockey team (10–5, 3–3 Ivy) hosted the Columbia Lions (5–9, 2–4 Ivy) at Johnson Field. The penultimate conference game for the Bulldogs was also senior night, in which the program celebrated their seven seniors before the matchup.
Each senior, escorted by their family, walked onto Johnson Field for the last conference game of their career. The team acknowledged the contributions made by the senior class and then got straight to work against the Lions.
Both teams failed to score in the first half, but combined for a total of five goals during the final half with the ultimate score resulting in a 2–3 Bulldogs loss. The Columbia goalkeeper had nine saves throughout the game, seven of which were during the first half.
That being said, the Bulldogs still scored first, with a penalty corner at the 32 minute mark. Hettie Whittington ’27 slid a pass to Ellie Barlow ’25 near the post, and she was able to convert that into the first goal of the game. This rounds out Barlow’s goals for the season to a career-high five.
The Lions found an answer not long after and were able to score two goals in quick succession of one another, giving them a 1–2 lead by the 41 minute mark. However, the Bulldogs made quick work of responding, with Victoria Collee ’28 firing a shot past the Lions’ keeper to even the score before the start of the fourth quarter. This was Collee’s fourth goal of her first-year campaign.
Chiara Picciafuoco ’28 was almost able to give the Elis the lead early in the fourth quarter, but her shot deflected off the post.
The Columbia offense was able to convert a blocked shot into a go-ahead goal with seven minutes remaining. The Bulldogs spent most of the remainder of the game on offense but couldn’t quite come up with a goal.
Six of the last seven games between the Bulldogs and the Lions have been decided by one goal or shootout. With the loss, the Bulldogs fell to 9–5 and 3–3 in conference play.
After the tough blow on Friday, the Bulldogs had to turn around and face No. 19 Temple (9–7, 4–2 Big East) on Sunday. This was the final home game of the regular season for Yale.
The last time these two teams met at their inaugural matchup, Yale beat the Owls 1–0. Now, they were ready to do it again.
The first half was all Ymre Massée ’28. The first year who had the first goal of her career against Lehigh and the second against Dartmouth, doubled her career statistics in this one game.
At 9:36 in the first quarter, Whittington passed the ball to Massée, who quickly turned to face the goal and get the ball out from next to her stick. She then flung it high past the soaring, defensive arms of the Temple goalie, securing the first goal of the game for the Bulldogs. On a sunny October day, the crowd immediately got on their feet.
Shortly after the second quarter began, the first years went to work. At 17:37, an assist from Collee found Massée’s swinging stick, notching yet another goal for Yale early in the game.
This would not be the final goal.
In the fourth period, Julia Freedman ’25 was able to make yet another victory lap around the Owls using Whittington’s second assist of the game. Freedman deflected the ball into the back of the net off a penalty corner at 56:07.
This put the game out of reach for the Owls, concluding shortly after with a Bulldog home victory 3–0. This was the first top–20 win of the season for Yale.
Lauren Venter ’26 told the News that the win was necessary to propel the team forward before facing No. 13 Princeton (11–4, 6–0 Ivy).
“Our win over Temple was the team win we needed,” she said. “We stepped onto the field focused and took care of business. It was the perfect tune-up before facing Princeton, and we’ll bring the same must-win mentality into that game.”
Looking to secure a bid for the Ivy League tournament, Yale plays their final game of the regular season against Princeton on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 12 p.m in New Jersey.