Following a grueling opening weekend at Johnson Field, the Yale field hockey team (0–2) looks to bounce back this weekend with games at Hofstra and No. 16 Albany.
Last weekend, the Bulldogs held No. 16 Stanford (tied in rank with Albany) scoreless for 60 of 70 minutes, but for the other ten, which came a little after halfway through the game,, the Cardinal (3–1) broke out and turned a 1–0 deficit into a 3–1 lead they did not relinquish. Sunday brought a similarly frustrating result, as Yale outshot neighborhood rival Quinnipiac 30–18, but ultimately fell in penalty strokes after a marathon, double–overtime battle.
“We went into [last] weekend knowing the challenges we would face playing two tough teams,” goalkeeper Emily Cain ’14 said of the losses. “The outcome is not what we would have hoped for, but we will focus on what we struggled with into this week’s practice and look to make the adjustments necessary for next weekend. We are facing some of the best teams in the country this season and every game is going to be a battle, but that’s why we need to perform at the next level.”
Cain was one of the Bulldogs’ bright spots last weekend, posting 21 saves over the two games and playing to a .808 save percentage.
Offensively, Yale did everything but find the back of the net on opening weekend, generating a stellar 21 corners against the Bobcats Sunday. Capitalizing on those chances will be crucial with another top-20 team, Albany, and a perennially strong squad in Hofstra this weekend. Last year, the Bulldogs took down the Pride 4–2 at Johnson Field.
Albany has impressed so far this season with three wins on the road, but the team lost to Stanford in a 3–2 OT decision at home. Hofstra also fell to the Cardinal this season — a 4–3 overtime loss in its opener.
“Obviously it’s disappointing to lose both games in our opening weekend, but I don’t think the results are indicative of how we played,” midfielder Kirsten Krebs ’12 said. “What matters is that we learn from these games, move on, and approach our next game with an even bigger will to win.”
The Bulldogs face off against the Pride Saturday at 1 p.m. and then travel to Albany for a 2 p.m. Sunday dogfight with the Great Danes.
It was an unpredictable opening weekend for the Yale field hockey team. The Bulldogs played two rollercoaster games and suffered two losses, despite leading No. 20 Stanford for 40 minutes and despite an improbable comeback in the final minutes of the first half against Quinnipiac.
An early 11 a.m. start time Saturday did not faze the Bulldogs, as Maddy Sharp ’13 deflected a shot by Emily Schuckert ’14 into the Stanford net just 1:56 into the game. While the Cardinal defense seemed to awaken as the half went on, the Bulldogs were wide awake from the start. Thanks to ten first-half saves from Emily Cain ’14, the Bulldogs headed to halftime with a 1-0 lead.
But Stanford’s offense came to life in the second half, tallying three quick goals in less than eight minutes. That left the Bulldogs reeling and facing a 3-1 deficit to boot. Yale’s defense recovered and ultimately held the high-powered Cardinal offense off the board for over 60 of 70 minutes, but that outburst was enough to propel Stanford to its third win.
Much of Yale’s defensive success was due to an 11-save performance from Cain, who was playing her first contest as the Bulldogs’ full-time starter.
“We went into this weekend knowing the challenges we would face playing two tough teams,” Cain said. “The outcome was not what we would have hoped for, but we are facing some of the best teams in the country this season and every game is going to be a battle.”
Fellow keeper Ona McConnell ’13 was also a part of Saturday’s story, as the game marked the launch of the “Get a Grip” Campaign, a fundraising initiative sponsored by the team to benefit Myotonic Dystrophy, a disease McConnell has battled since her diagnosis two years ago. Shirts were on sale and donations were taken Saturday, while the Bulldogs wore special jerseys to raise awareness.
As if the emotions of a season-opener against a ranked team to honor a teammate battling a crippling disease were not enough for one weekend, the Bulldogs then traveled up the road to Hamden Sunday for a showdown with nearby rival Quinnipiac.
The Bobcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 14:15, when Danielle Allan sent a feed from the top of the circle past Cain for her third goal of the young season. Just when it looked like Quinnipiac would take that 1-0 lead to halftime, the Yale offense responded, flipping the script in the final three minutes of the half to take a 2-1 lead after the first period.
The spark came from members of the Bulldogs’ senior class, captain Erin Carter ’12 and forward Mia Rosati ’12. Rosati deflected a ball from Carter into the Quinnipiac net to tie the game at 32:14, and just two minutes later, Carter buried a ball from midfielder Chelsey Locarno ’12 to give her team the halftime lead.
But, like that of Yale, Quinnipiac’s comeback did not take long. The Bobcats capitalized on a corner just two minutes into the second half to knot things up.
The game would remain tied through the rest of regulation and two fifteen-minute overtime periods, though the Bulldogs were in control for much of the final sixty minutes.
“This weekend was obviously very frustrating for us,” midfielder Mary Beth Barham ’13 said. “Today it was unfortunate in that we dominated but could not show that on the scoreboard.”
That scoreboard was wiped clean after 100 minutes of play, and it was time for strokes, field hockey’s version of the penalty kick. Each team gets five chances, with the most makes winning the game.
Quinnipiac put the pressure on with a make on its first stroke, but captain Carter answered with a make for the Bulldogs. The Bobcats hit their second attempt, as well, but Yale could not, giving Quinnipiac the 2-1 lead. Megan McCreedy made it a perfect 3-3 for the Bobcats, but Georgia Holland ’14 held the Bulldogs in it with a make to send the score to 3-2.
Quinnipiac then missed, breathing life into the Bulldogs, but another Yale miss followed by a Bobcat make gave the squad from Hamden the win.
“I don’t think we anticipated that the game would be as much of a challenge as it turned out to be,” forward Kirsten Krebs ’12 said. “At the end of the day, I still think we’re a better team. We were in better shape and we dominated the game. I think it will end up being beneficial to us because we had the opportunity to play two overtime periods and practice penalty strokes under high pressure — when it comes to important in-league games, we’ll be even more prepared.”
The Bulldogs will have to rebound quickly from this weekend, as a trip to Hofstra and Albany — two schools just outside the top 20 receiving votes in the national poll — awaits next weekend.
“We came out with strong intensity in both games, but we could have done a better job capitalizing on the chances we generated,” Sharp said. “We let our emotions get the best of us, but we’ve been playing well and we learned some valuable lessons from the past two days. It’s unfortunate to emerge from the weekend with two losses but we’re more determined than ever to have a strong showing next weekend.”
This year, with its seven top scorers and 13 letter winners back from a team that finished second in the Ivy League last year, the Yale field hockey team is looking to defy a challenging schedule and make a statement in its season opener against No. 20 Stanford on Saturday morning at Johnson Field.
The Cardinal (2–1) are just one of five teams on the Bulldogs’ schedule ranked in the NFHCA/Kookaburra Division I Preseason Poll, and five more teams on the schedule received votes for that list. The Cardinal charge into Saturday’s matchup fresh off a 3–2 victory over No. 17 Albany — a team Yale will face later this season — and with a win over Hofstra in their opener.
And while having three games — two against ranked teams — under its belt is an advantage for Stanford, the fact that Yale has not played and that the two teams have not met in past seasons means the Cardinal will not have much information on the 2011 Bulldogs. Yale head coach Pam Stuper said that may even the playing field.
“We’ve gotten as much information on them as we can, and they’ll be doing the same for us, but in a game like this it really comes down to the players on the field,” Stuper said. “They have to figure it out, try to make adjustments and use their instincts, and we have a veteran group with lots of experience on the field.”
With the exception of the goalkeeper position, where Emily Cain ’14 will take over as the full-time starter, Yale’s lineup is indeed loaded with collegiate experience. At the top is a senior class that features two players, midfielder Dinah Landshut ’12 and forward Mia Rosati ’12, who have started every game of their careers. The forward line features Erica Borgo ’14, last year’s leading scorer. Landshut, who tallied the second-most assists in school history (16) in 2010, anchors the midfield, while captain Erin Carter ’12, who tied Borgo for the most goals with eight last season , leads the backfield.
The team’s preseason culminated in two scrimmages in which, she said, her team performed at a higher level than it ever had in a preseason date in previous years. Carter agreed.
“We’ve been working tirelessly this preseason and pushing ourselves everyday,” Carter said. “We have a lot of strong players coming back for our 2011 season, with every member of the team playing a different key role. Our goals are to be Ivy Champs and to be in the NCAA tournament.”
With that goal in mind, and the Ivy League’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament gone in 2011, the Bulldogs will need to impress against a daunting schedule. For that reason, Saturday’s game, which also kicks off the second annual “Get a Grip” campaign, Yale field hockey’s season-long fund-raising program to benefit myotonic dystrophy research, is all the more important for the Bulldogs.
“If we each take the fall one game at a time, I’m confident that we can definitely achieve our goals,” Carter said. “Every girl on this team has made them her priority for 2011 and is willing to put in the heart and effort to make them happen.”
No. 20 Stanford and Yale face off at 11 a.m. Saturday at Johnson Field. T-shirts to benefit the “Get a Grip” campaign will be on sale, donations will be accepted, and the Bulldogs will be donning specially made jerseys for the event.
When the Yale field hockey team takes to Johnson Field Saturday at 11 a.m., it will be kicking off much more than its 2011 season. The opener against No. 20 Stanford marks the start of the second-straight year of the “Get a Grip” campaign, the team’s initiative to raise awareness and funds for myotonic dystrophy, the disease battled by one of their own, goalkeeper Ona McConnell ’13.
Starting Saturday, those teammates will be trying not only to improve upon a season that saw them score the second-most goals in school history (52), but also to increase the impact of their “Goal-a-thon,” a fundraiser in which pledges are promised for each goal the team scores. Those funds will go straight to researching treatment for myotonic dystrophy, which currently has no cure.
Last year’s campaign raised over $50,000 dollars for research for the disease, the most common form of muscular dystrophy that affects over 8,000 people worldwide. The disease causes muscles to weaken and progressively deteriorate in the heart, brain, gastro-intestinal tract, endocrine, skeletal and respiratory systems; this can eventually result in a crippling lack of muscle control and death due to the loss of lung muscle.
McConnell, 19, was diagnosed with the inherited disorder during her freshmen year. She said doctors have told her that her case is one of the most rapidly deteriorating they have ever seen. When McConnell was diagnosed, she was told that she had six to 10 years before the disease would affect function in her feet. She told the doctors that she had already experienced those symptoms the previous year. It was a sign, she said, of the disease’s unusually rapid spread.
Doctors also warned of pain and, unfortunately for McConnell, she experiences the symptoms severely as well: the pain is sometimes so great that she can hardly sleep or write.
The Berkeley resident hasn’t let the disease slow her down, as she has managed to juggle a pre-med track with varsity field hockey — and a position on the Board of Directors of the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation. She made her varsity debut in last year’s “Get a Grip” kickoff against Sacred Heart, and played in three total games, not allowing a goal. She has spent the past two summers bolstering her medical school resume, working as an intern at Beijing Normal University after her freshmen year, and at Yale-New Haven in the neurology department this year.
McConnell’s ability to continue achieving despite what is often agonizing pain seems impossible, she credits her teammates with giving her the strength to keep fighting.
“My teammates have obviously been a great source of support,” McConnell said. “In every single way. Just the way everyone jumped to help in their own way: writing to alumni, making T-shirts, all that. I’ve gotten a lot closer to the team through all this. They’ve been amazing.”
“Field hockey’s getting tougher as I get weaker,” McConnell said. “But the closer I get to having it taken away, the more and more I love it.”
After two years of knocking on the door, the Yale field hockey team is looking to finally win an Ivy League Championship this season. The team has finished second to Princeton in each of the past two seasons, but hopes to ride on the experience of this year’s team.
The Bulldogs lost just four players to graduation from a team that finished second in the Ivy League last season, posting an 11–6–0 record. The team will be led by its six returning seniors.
“We definitely think this is our year,” Locarno said. “We have great leadership, a great senior class, and almost everyone back. And our schedule gives us a great chance to make the tournament.”
Captain and First-Team All-Ivy selection Erin Carter ’12 anchors the Yale defense, but her eight goals out of the backfield tied her for the team lead, making her an integral component of a Bulldog offense that was third in the Ivy League in scoring in 2010. Also crucial to the attack is midfielder Dinah Landshut ’12, whose 15 assists last year were one shy of the single-season record and moved her into third place at Yale all-time.
Midfielder Chelsey Locarno ’12 has been solid in the midfield throughout her career, starting every game of last season. Kirsten Krebs ’12 also saw time in every game, adding two goals. Classmates and forwards Taylor Sankovich ’12 (7 goals, 2 assists) and Mia Rosati ’12 (5 goals, 5 assists) also started every game in 2010. Landshut and Rosati have started every game of their Yale career to date.
The team’s schedule features five teams — Albany, Michigan, Princeton, Stanford, UConn — ranked in the top 20 of the recently released National Field Hockey Coaches Association Preseason Poll, and five others who received votes. The Bulldogs received four votes, and have ample opportunity to gain more with their challenging schedule. That includes the team’s season debut against No. 20 Stanford and an early October jaunt with No. 9 Michigan and Northwestern University.
“We’ve had a pretty grueling preseason, so we should be ready,” Mia Rosati said of the schedule. “That trip to Michigan and Northwestern will be a great trip.”
The Bulldogs will bring a powerful combination of youth and the experience carried by its seniors into that schedule, as last year saw the emergence of a dynamic freshmen duo that will have a year of experience under their belt heading into this season. That duo consists of last year’s Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Year, midfielder Georgia Holland ’14, and forward Erica Borgo ’14.
Holland led the Ivy League in defensive saves in 2010 while contributing six assists and four goals to the Bulldog offense. Borgo was a second-team All-Ivy pick in her freshman season and Yale’s leading scorer with eight goals and seven assists.
Joining them in a central role for Coach Stuper will be goalie Emily Cain ’14, who will see time between the pipes for the Bulldogs this season after giving up nine goals in 245 minutes in an injury-marred freshman campaign.
The Bulldogs kick off their 2011 season on Sept. 3 at 11 am at Johnson Field.
The Yale field hockey team can close out their 2010 season in grand fashion Saturday when they travel to Brown (5–11, 2–4) in the hopes of finishing their Ivy League season with a win that would give them the most conference wins in school history.
Also within reach for the Bulldogs (11–5, 5–1) is the school record for goals — the Bulldogs are five short of their current record 55 — a tie for third for most wins in school history — 12 — and the individual single-season assist mark — 16 — which Dinah Landshut ’12 is just one helper away from tying. With six goals and seven assists, Erica Borgo ’14 could become the first freshman to lead the Bulldogs in scoring since ’02, while classmate Georgia Holland ’14 has made the most defensive saves — 5 — since Jenn Slough ’07 in 2006, a number good for tops in the Ancient Eight.
Besides approaching the school’s record books, this year’s Yale team has also made its mark on the Ivy League. With the exception of a loss to No. 5 Princeton, the Bulldogs have run the table, including an impressive 10-0 win over Penn two weeks ago. A win over Brown would give Yale a chance at an Ivy League title, although they would also have to rely on Penn pulling an upset over the Tigers, who beat Yale 7-0.
Even without the Ivy League title, however, this year’s squad has certainly made a statement, responding to the loss of a decorated senior class last year with their first back-to-back 50-goal season, and double-digit wins for the second straight year, just the second time that has happened in Yale history. Juniors Taylor Sankovich, Erin Carter, Mia Rosati, Kirsten Krebs, Chelsey Locarno, and Landshut have all made jumps in scoring this season, while sophomore Mary Beth Barham ’13 — 4 goals, 4 assists — has burst onto the scene as a major scoring threat at forward.
In addition to the strong play of the freshmen class, this year’s squad has established itself as one of the elite teams in the Ivy League, a status Brown will hope to challenge Saturday.
Brown is led against the Bulldogs by junior Leslie Springmeyer, who was named Ivy League Co-Player of the Week after a seven point weekend against Penn and Holy Cross. The Bears’ Ivy League wins have come against the Quakers and in an overtime game against Harvard on Oct. 2nd.
When the Bulldogs and Bears square off, it will be the last game for Yale’s senior class, Erica Cullum ’11, Marissa Waldemore ’11, Johna Paolino ’11, and captain Katie Bolling ’11. Bolling has been strong between the pipes for Yale this season, posting a.695 save percentage for the Elis. Paolino has had her best year yet, setting a career high in points with four goals and two assists. Cullum and Waldemore have both struggled with injuries, but have been strong in front of Bolling in the Yale backfield, and will look to keep an Ivy League foe off the scoreboard one last time, and cap off a stellar 2010 season Saturday.
“I think we’re all very happy about the way our season has gone, and we’re ready to play Brown with the same intensity and focus that has helped us to be successful so far.” Krebs said. “We already beat some of our ‘raise the bar’ goals … and we’re very close to beating several others. When we play Brown, we’re going to focus on the process of the game, and making sure we play with good fundamentals. If we do this, the rest of our goals will fall into place.”
The Bulldogs’ quest to achieve those goals will come to an end Saturday at 1 p.m. on the Rooftop in Providence.
The class of 2011 came into Saturday’s contest having been a part of 36 wins in their careers, but it took some overtime heroics from next year’s seniors — juniors Mia Rosati ’12 and Dinah Landshut ’12 — to seal number 37.
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On a day when the Bulldogs honored its four seniors — captain and goalie Katie Bolling ’11, forward Johna Paolino ’11, and backs Erica Cullum ’11 and Marissa Waldemore ’11 — the Elis (11–5, 5–1 Ivy) defeated Columbia (9–7, 2–4) 3–2 with a last-minute overtime goal in their last game at Johnson Field.
For the first 20 minutes, the Bulldogs and Lions went back and forth without success. But at 20:43, Kirsten Krebs ’12 put the Bulldogs on the board first on a feed from Mary Beth Barham ’13. Columbia was quick to respond and tied things up with a goal just eight minutes later. The Lions then shocked the Bulldogs just three minutes later when a penalty corner shot from Julia Garrison found the back of Bolling’s net and gave Columbia a 2-1 lead.
Columbia held that lead until over 17 minutes into the second half when forward Maddy Sharp ’13 scored the game-tying goal on a penalty corner. The goal came after a barrage of Yale pressure in a second half that saw the Elis outshoot Columbia 13–6.
Despite a 7–3 penalty corner advantage in the second frame, Yale could not find the game-winner in regulation, and were forced to play overtime to decide the fate of its seniors’ last game at home.
“The seniors were definitely a big motivating factor for us,” said forward and midfielder Chelsey Locarno ’12. “Especially once we went into overtime. We all wanted their last game on our own field to be memorable, and I think that was really apparent when the team took care of business in overtime so quickly.”
Luckily, for the class of 2011 — and the future of the Yale field hockey program — the class of 2012 came through in the clutch as they have all season. Midfielder Dinah Landshut ’12 sent a feed through the circle to Mia Rosati ’12, who was able to get a stick on it and hand her seniors the win.
“Our seniors have helped to shape our program into what it is today,” Kirsten Krebs ’12 said. “It was so important for our team to show them how much we appreciate all they’ve done to make our program successful.”
Rosati’s tally also marked the 50th goal the Bulldogs have scored this season, a number they have now reached in back-to-back years for the first time in history. The single season team record is 55 goals, and Yale has one more game — next Saturday’s contest at Brown — to bring that mark down.
With the Ivy League win, the Bulldogs pulled themselves within just one win of the school’s record for Ivy League wins, and Landshuts’s assist on the game-winner gives her 15 this season, only one short of Katie Cantore’s ’10 school record set last year.
In their final game in New Haven, Bolling had four saves in helping the Elis to the win, while Johna Paolino, who is enjoying her best collegiate season with four goals and two assists, got the start at forward for Yale. Waldemore and Cullum, who have been frustrated by injuries this season, finally got to play in the backfield together coming off the bench in the win.
While the Elis pulled out the win, Cornell dropped a tough 3–2 loss to No. 5 Princeton, and with it, Yale’s chances of bringing home the Ivy League title all but evaporated. Yale ends its season at Brown on Nov. 6. The game is slated to start at 1 p.m.
Saturday will be a special day for the Yale field hockey team (10-5, 4-1), as they not only celebrate the careers of the four members of the class of 2011, but also round out their home schedule with an ever-important Ivy League showdown with the Columbia Lions (9-6, 2-3).
Yale brings a four-game winning streak to Johnson Field Saturday, a streak which included a big road win at Dartmouth (3-1) , a 2-0 win at Holy Cross, and last week’s games against Penn and Fairfield.
The Elis hope to round out their season with two wins against their two remaining competitors, Columbia and Brown, and let the Ivy League chips fall where they may. If Yale wins the next two games, they will need a Princeton loss to have a chance at winning the title.
“I think [the Penn] win was great for us going into our last two Ivy games,” midfielder and back Taylor Sankovich ’12 said. “We now know we have the potential to beat teams by a lot of goals, and we will strive to repeat our performance in our last two games.”
As things stand going into Saturday, the Elis are tied for second place with Cornell, one game out of first behind No. 4 Princeton. Cornell and Princeton play Saturday in Ithaca, and if the Tigers were to fall, Yale’s 3-2 win over the Big Red on Oct. 2 would loom large, pulling the Bulldogs into a tie for first in the Ivy League.
The Lions come into Saturday’s game having won five of their last seven games, but one of their two losses came in overtime to Ancient Eight rival Penn – a team that the Bulldogs took down handily, 10-0.
The Eli defense will have to stop Columbia on offense. The Lions are just 2–8 when they have been held below to two points or lower this season, and have won every game in which they have scored over three or more points. Goalie Katie Bolling ’11 has played 792 minutes between the pipes this season, allowing just over two goals a game and stopping shots to the tune of a .692 save percentage, and has a 7-4 overall record on the year.
Gabby Kozlowski leads the Lions’ offensive attack with 15 goals this season. On defense, goalie Christie O’Hara has a 2.90 goals against average and a .679 save percentage so far this season.
For the Bulldogs, midfielder Dinah Landshut ‘12 is just two assists short of Katie Cantore’s ’10 single season record of 16, set last season. Forward Erica Borgo ’14 leads the team with 19 points. Sankovich has added seven goals and 16 points, while Erin Carter ’12 has contributed 8 goals and 16 points, both reaching career highs in those categories.
The Bulldogs have scored 47 goals this season, giving themselves a chance to post back-to-back 50-goal campaigns for the first time ever (last year’s team tallied 51). The school record, 55 (1998) would seem out of reach considering the fact that only two games remain on the schedule, but after Saturday’s 10-0 drubbing of Penn, knocking down that mark is not out of the question.
The Bulldogs matchup against the Lions is set to begin at 1 p.m. at Johnson Field.
The Bulldogs maintained their second place ranking in the Ivy League after shutting out Penn 10–0 at Johnson Field Saturday. The Elis followed the win with a 2–1 victory at Fairfield, registering their second straight weekend sweep.
In the first three minutes of Saturday’s game against the Quakers, midfielder Dinah Landshut ’12 tallied her first goal of the season. Landshut also added an assist on the Bulldogs’ second goal less than three minutes later, when back Taylor Sankovich ’12 shot a rocket on a penalty stroke, the first two of her six points of the day.
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Fifteen minutes later, forward Erica Borgo ’14, who also assisted on the Sankovich goal, deposited a feed from fellow forward Mary Beth Barham ’13 in the back of the Penn net to increase the Bulldog’s lead to three.
In the 23rd minute, Emily Schuckert ’14 capitalized on a feed from Johna Paolino ’11 for her first career score, making her the third Bulldog freshman to score a goal this season. After waiting 13 games for that first goal, Schuckert only had to wait five minutes for her next one, as the midfielder knocked in the Elis’ fifth goal of the game at 27:53.
“Scoring my first goal was pretty incredible.” Schuckert said. “ It took a few seconds for me to realize that it had actually happened. It felt good knowing I was helping my team build up a nice lead.”
Erin Carter ’12 — the team’s leader with eight goals — rounded out the half’s scoring with a penalty stroke in the 29th minute to send the Bulldogs to halftime up 6–0.
“Our team was working really well together and our attack was definitely wearing down Penn’s defense,” Schuckert said.
Just two minutes into the second half, the Bulldogs continued its offensive onslaught when Mia Rosati ’13 capitalized on a Sankovich rebound. Kirsten Krebs ’12 added another penalty corner goal just minutes later, and Sankovich and Landshut then added their second goals of the game as Yale hit double digits in scoring for the dominating win.
The Bulldogs ended the game outshooting the Quakers 40-5. Penn has been outhot 331–114, averaging only 1.13 goals per game and 4.07 goals allowed per game this season.
“We had an amazing passing game,” Sankovich said. “Our attack started in the backfield, so the whole team was involved in every goal. After the half, we were up, but we didn’t stop attacking. Each goal was just as exciting as the last, especially because so many different girls were scoring.”
On Sunday, the Elis travelled to Fairfield in the team’s last non-league matchup of the season. The Bulldogs outshot the Stags but to a slightly lesser extent than against the Quakers, 11–7.
Yet that difference was enough for the win, as Barham and Paolino each scored goals in the first half to give the Bulldogs a 2–1 lead they would not relinquish. Landshut added another assist in the game, bringing her total on the year to 14; just two shy of the single season record of Katie Cantore ’10.
Yale continues their conference schedule against Columbia Saturday at Johnson Field.
The second place field hockey team will face a struggling Penn offense this weekend at home this Saturday, before heading to Fairfield to face an 8–8 Stag squad on Sunday.
The Yale defense will look to shut down a 3–11 Penn team that has been outscored 51–17 so far this season. They are led by a trio of scorers — Kirstin Snyder, Laurel McGarvie and Sarah Hasson, each of whom has scored seven points this season — less than half of what Yale’s leader scorer, Erica Borgo ’14, has tallied. Yet despite the mismatch on paper, Coach Pam Stuper and the Bulldogs know not to take anything in the Ivy League for granted.
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“They’ve struggled this year, but I know what they’re capable of.” Stuper said. “I’m never comfortable going into any Ivy League game.”
Nor, after last year’s game at Penn, should she be. The Quakers finished 2–5 in the conference, sixth, last season, but nearly beat the second place Bulldogs. In that contest, the Bulldogs, down 2–1, needed a late, game-tying goal from forward Mia Rosati ’13 to send the game to overtime, where Rosati salvaged an otherwise frustrating day for the Bulldogs with the game winner.
After Saturday, the Bulldogs will have to deal with 8-8 Fairfield Sunday. The Stags are coming off back-to-back losses, one of which, however, was a game against California decided in penalty strokes.
The Bulldogs are coming off a weekend sweep that included an important conference win in Hanover against Dartmouth. Yale also dominated 0–13 Holy Cross in Worcester on Sunday outshooting the Crusaders 18–8 in a 2–0 win. Yale earned a sweep of the Ivy League’s weekly awards, as back Georgia Holland ’14 (4 goals, 5 assists) took home her third Ivy League Rookie of the Week award, while back Erin Carter ’12 earned her first Ivy League Player of the Week honors for her three-goal weekend.
Faceoff against Penn is set for noon on Saturday at Johnson Field. The Bulldogs will begin Sunday’s game at Fairfield at 1 p.m.
Despite losing its all-time single-season assist leader and all-time leading point scorer Ashley MacCauley ’10 to graduation, the field hockey team (8–5, 3–1 Ivy), tied for second in the Ancient Eight, is poised to have one of its best seasons in school history. Two unlikely sources, freshmen Erica Borgo ’14 and Georgia Holland ’14, have been a critical component of that success in just their first eight weeks at Yale.
Borgo, who has started every game at forward for the Elis this year, leads the Bulldogs in points with five goals and five assists through 13 games while Holland is third on the team in points with four goals and five assists. Both freshmen have received Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors — Holland most recently this week following the Bulldogs’ sweep of Dartmouth and Holy Cross, her third time winning the award.
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“The level of play from high school to college is a huge jump so I did not assume anything was going to be easy,” Borgo said. “All I knew was that I wanted to be able to contribute in any way possible. Whether that was for an entire game or only for a few minutes, I wanted to make an impact when the opportunities arose.”
Borgo added three goals for the Elis in its two-win season start while Holland scored two goals of her own in just her third game of the season, a 6–0 win over Colgate. Holland also tallied two crucial goals in a key 3–2 Bulldog victory over Cornell, who is currently battling with the Elis over second place.
“I knew that both Borgo and [Holland] were great players,” head coach Pam Stuper said. “But I’m always very cautious about having any specific expectations for freshmen coming in. As a fall sport, there are so many questions about how they’ll adjust academically, athletically and socially, that it’s all about making the transition. But I knew if they could [adjust], they had a chance to step in and play a big role for us.”
Borgo and Holland both said what made that transition so easy was the leadership of Yale’s upperclassmen.
“They have helped with every adjustment possible.” Borgo said of her teammates. “From move-in and packing to classes and professors, the girls on the team have been able to answer pretty much every question I can throw at them. I know I can go to them for anything.”
Holland echoed Borgo’s sentiments. She said that the upperclassmen, whether it was giving advice about what classes to take, where to eat, or what to expect at practice, served as important role models as they tried to maintain a balance between academics and athletics.
On the field, Borgo and Holland have been able to learn from a group of returners who made up five of the top seven scorers on last year’s second-place Ivy League squad. With such a solid core of players in place, and the adjustment to the college game looming, the dynamic duo both said they could not have envisioned the success they have experienced so far this season.
“Coming in as a freshmen I definitely wanted to make an impact.” Holland said. “I didn’t know exactly how or where I would fit in, but so far everything has worked out.”
If Borgo and Holland were unsure of what to expect coming in, their play so far this season has set the bar high for the future. Stuper said that while she doesn’t want to push Holland and Borgo too hard as they continue to adjust, she has high hopes for the two rookies in the coming three years. She also added that while the two freshmen have definitely made a strong impact this season, they aren’t the only members of their class poised to make an impact in their careers.
Goalie Emily Cain ’14 — who is currently out with an injury — is 3–1 this season with a 2.57 goals against average. Midfielder Emily Schuckert ’14 has also played in every game, including seven starts, and so has Gabrielle Garcia ’14, who is transitioning from back, her high school position, to a more offensive role. Stuper added that forward Brooke Gogel ’14 brings great energy off the bench.
“Our freshman class is a great group of girls.” Borgo said. “I’m so happy to be able to have another three years with them. We definitely have a strong class overall, as seen just in this one season, and we are hoping to continue to make strides in the coming years.”
The Bulldogs have a strong foundation to build on. The team is currently second in the Ivy League and coming off a big conference win against Dartmouth on Saturday. While Yale will likely have difficulty overcoming nationally ranked No. 5 Princeton for the Ivy title, they have a chance to secure themselves at least a spot on the postseason bubble with a strong finish to the season. That quest begins Saturday when the Penn Quakers (2–11, 1–3) come to Johnson Field to take on the Bulldogs. Borgo, Holland, and the rest of the class of 2014 hope to continue the success they have had as they head into the final stretch of the 2010 season.
“The freshmen class gets along really really well.” Holland said. “We have spent a lot of time together over the past two months and have become really close. I think the combination of our friendship and hockey skill holds a really bright future for Yale field hockey.”
