Tag Archive: Lacrosse

  1. M. LACROSSE | Elis fight to five overtimes in longest game in history

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    In the longest game in Yale men’s lacrosse history at Reese Stadium on Saturday, the Tigers finally got the better of the Bulldogs.

    No. 13 Princeton (5–2, 2–0 Ivy) took a 10–9 win, but the Elis (2–4, 0–2 Ivy) pushed their opponents to the brink during the 78-minute matchup, which went into five overtimes.

    “I’ve never played in, seen, or coached a game where a team put forth such an effort,” head coach Andy Shay said in an email. “I couldn’t be prouder of this team.”

    The crowd of more than 1,000, one of the largest ever at Reese stadium, witnessed one of the most exciting and memorable games in college lacrosse this year. Down by three goals with less than four minutes remaining, the Bulldogs came roaring back and scored their final two goals with less than one minute remaining to force overtime.

    The teams battled back and forth for four extra periods, but neither was able to break the stalemate. In the fourth overtime, each team had an extra-man opportunity, and Yale almost scored on a clever trick play, but both goalkeepers and defenses held strong. It was the second outstanding defensive performance from the Bulldogs in two weeks, after they held the nation’s top-ranked offense to its lowest output of the season in last weekend’s one-goal loss to Cornell.

    “Our coaches have been telling us during practice that there are two things we can control: hustle and communication,” goalkeeper Jack Meyer ’14 said of the defense. “We’ve been working very hard on those and I think it shows. Peter Johnson [’13] was covering one of the best players in the country and kept him quiet and Harry [Kucharczyk ’15] had some great ground balls for us [on Saturday].”

    Finally, two minutes and 21 seconds into the fifth extra period, Princeton midfielder Alex Capretta scored from eight yards out off a pass from Tucker Shanley to bring the game to a close. It was Capretta’s third goal of the game and he led all scorers on both teams. Midfielder Tom Shreiber, who is tied for fifth in the country with 4.5 points per game also had two goals and two assists for the Tigers.

    Attackman Brandon Mangan ’14 led scoring for the Bulldogs with two goals and three assists, and attackman Conrad Oberbeck ’15 also contributed two goals and an assist. Oberbeck’s assist pulled the Elis within one when Mangan scored with 47 seconds left in the fourth quarter and gave the team a chance to send the game to overtime.

    After Mangan’s goal, midfielder Dylan Levings ’14 won the faceoff, pushing the ball cleanly in front of him, and came down the field looking to score. The Tigers had no answer for Levings, who won seven of the last eight faceoffs in the fourth quarter and overtime. Princeton sent four different men to the X against Levings, but he continued to dominate.

    On this attempt, Levings’ shot flew high over the net. Yale backed up Levings’ shot, and 18 seconds later midfielder Greg Mahony ’12 ran through a double team, curled around the right side of the net and slotted the ball past Princeton netminder Tyler Fiorito to tie the game and electrify the Yale faithful watching.

    In the first overtime period, it appeared this momentum would be short-lived, as the Princeton offense ran roughshod over Yale’s defense but failed to find the net. The Tigers had six shots in the period and hit the pipe twice, but the Bulldogs regrouped and proceeded to shut down the Tiger offense for the next three periods.

    “Our communication lapsed a little bit in that first period,” Meyer said. “But we buckled down after we saw that we could survive and we kept playing hard and talking to each other the rest of the way.”

    Meyer rose to the occasion on Saturday and played his best collegiate game. The sophomore had a career-high 14 saves, including three in the second overtime to keep the Elis in the game. When the Princeton onslaught threatened to overwhelm Yale’s defense in the first overtime period, Meyer composed himself in goal and recommitted his focus for the rest of the game.

    The Bulldogs also got an inspired performance from midfielder Michael Pratt ’12. Pratt, the team’s captain, was all over the field on Saturday and seemed to will the Elis into overtime. His goal with 3:19 remaining in the fourth started the Yale comeback, and his dodge from the left side set up Mangan’s goal a few minutes later. After a hard collision with a Tiger in the first overtime, Pratt had to be helped and almost carried off the field with little sign of returning. But a few minutes later he was right back on the field and continued to make big plays on the defensive end for the rest of the game.

    During the last two weeks, the Elis held their own against their two toughest conference opponents, even if the team ultimately came up short. Two weeks into the conference season, the Bulldogs are hoping to gain a spot in the top four conference teams to enter into the Ivy League tournament.

    “It’s a tough loss to take and we’re reeling right now, but this is going to make us a tougher team going forward,” Meyer said. “I’m really proud of the way we fought out there.”

    Next Saturday, the Bulldogs face off against Penn at Reese stadium. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

  2. M. LACROSSE | Bulldogs dominate Hoyas

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    The No. 18 men’s lacrosse team never trailed in a 13–8 rout of Georgetown on Saturday. The victory extends the Bulldogs win streak to five games going into the team’s regular season finale at Harvard on April 30.

    While the Georgetown game will hardly improve Yale’s chances of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, Princeton’s loss to Harvard on Saturday guarantees the Bulldogs a spot in the Ivy League post-season, where they will compete for an automatic bid to the national tournament.

    “Our defense did a really good job of containing their very athletic offense,” Phil Gross ’13 said. “It was a great win to take us into our last league game against Harvard.”

    For the first time this season, the Elis (10–2, 3–2 Ivy) put together a complete 60 minutes of lacrosse with solid contributions coming on both sides of the field. Face-off specialist Cole Yeager ’13 dominated his four Georgetown Hoya (5–7, 2–2 Big East) opponents, winning 16 of 25 draws and grinding out 14 ground balls.

    Yeager’s gritty play was only exceeded by senior stand-out goalie John Falcone ’11, who frustrated the Hoyas’ attackmen with 13 saves, including five stops from point blank. Falcone is currently in the running for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award, awarded to a top-notch graduating lacrosse player dedicated to work on the field and off, both in the classroom and in the community.

    “I thought we played rally well, probably the best offensive out of the year,” Mike Sweeney ’12 said. “The defense played solid as usual, but Cole and Johnny won it for us.”

    Yale’s senior-most attackmen, Brian Douglass ’11 and Matt Gibson ’12, combined for eight points in what was the best offensive effort by the Bulldogs since they crushed Presbyterian and Mercer with 22-goal performances. On the other end, Michael McCormack ’13 pick-pocketed attackers with four caused turnovers and four ground balls.

    Yale led off the game with two goals coming from the midfield, before Georgetown’s Davey Emala was able to finish one low on Falcone with 7:05 left in the first quarter. The Bulldogs’ attack quickly responded by exploiting the Hoyas’ loose off-the-ball defense, with Gibson dodging from the ‘X’ to finish the quarter with a goal and an assist to Douglass. Thanks to six big saves by Falcone, the Bulldogs led 4-1 going into the second — and they never looked back.

    “I was really impressed with both the offense and defense,” Douglass said. “The first half was some of the best lacrosse I’ve seen us play.”

    The Hoyas struck first in the second on a low-to-high elevator shot by Travis Comeau with 12:32 left in the half. But the Bulldogs scored five of the next six goals to bury Georgetown going into the locker room at halftime. Gibson continued to get past the defense, namely on a goal in which he split two d-poles and snuck it past goalie Jack Davis just over a minute after Comeau’s finish. Fifty seconds later, midfielder Matt Miller ’12 evaded Ryan Shuler on an alley dodge that harkened back to Miller’s high school days as a St. Albans middie fighting against Shuler’s Georgetown Prep.

    With Yale clicking on offense and Georgetown appearing exhausted and down-trodden, the Bulldogs were poised to put away the home team, leading 9-3 at the half. The Hoyas, unable to penetrate Yale’s close defense even when man-up, held their gray helmets low, as if they were still reeling from last week’s loss to Loyola that practically eliminated the Hoyas from post-season contention.

    The second half was a back-and-forth battle with Yale responding to every Georgetown comeback attempt. Hot-handed freshman Brandon Mangan ’14 scored Yale’s only goal of the third quarter to notch his tenth of the season. Falcone, McCormack and Yale’s defense limited the Hoyas to five shots on goal in the third, two of which found the net.

    In the final frame, two uncommon goal-scorers — defensive middie Michael Pratt ’12 and Yeager — found the net off of face-offs. Shuler partially made up for his defensive error against Miller with two goals to cap off a three goal run by Georgetown to close the game. But the Hoyas could not come within five goals of the Bulldogs and lost their composure as the clock approached zero. With 2:37 remaining, Georgetown defenseman Barney Ehrmann hit high on Douglass and taunted the Yale attackman all the way to a two minute penalty for unnecessary roughness.

    Unfortunately for Ehrmann, his poorly executed check could do little to ease the pain of a 13–8 loss in front of a television audience.

    Yale will head to Cambridge on Saturday for their final regular season Ivy League game.

  3. W. LACROSSE | Bulldogs suffer sixth Ivy loss

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    Though the women’s lacrosse team scored the first goal of the game within the first minute, Cornell (5–7, 3–4 Ivy) netted the next 13 goals en route to its 14–3 victory on Saturday at Reese Stadium.

    It was the Bulldogs’ fourth straight loss and sixth straight conference loss. The team still has yet to win a game in the Ancient Eight.

    Midfielders Devon Rhodes ’13 and Adrienne Tarver ’14 said they were disappointed by the results of the game.

    “Cornell is a good team, but they weren’t anything stellar,” Tarver said. “I thought we matched up pretty well skill-wise to the Cornell team.”

    Rhodes said that the point differential was unexpected because the team focused on shooting and capitalizing on offense in practice last week.

    Tarver scored all three goals for the Yale team, while goalkeeper Erin McMullan ’14 made 10 saves in just over 35 minutes.

    Attacker Caroline Crow ’12, who is second on the team with 12 goals, missed her second game of the season due to a concussion suffered earlier in the spring. Midfielder Logan Greer ’11 said last week that the loss of Crow for the past two games has made it difficult for the team organize on offense. Midfielders Adrienne Tarver ’14 and Devon Rhodes ’13 said that Crows absence against the Big Red played a large role in the loss.

    “Caroline’s presence is a strong one, so it was tough not having her out there on the attacking side,” Tarver said.

    The Bulldogs controlled just three of 19 draws and had only 11 shots to Cornell’s 34. The Bulldogs also picked up just 16 ground balls, while the Big Red captured 24.

    On top of the loss of Crow, players said that wet and rainy weather on Saturday also contributed to the Bulldogs’ poor offensive performance.

    “All over the field, we had difficulty getting ground balls partially because it was so wet and messy out,” said Tarver.

    Tarver scored the first goal of the match in the first minute of the game. After 13 Cornell goals, Tarver struck again with back-to-back goals in the 22nd and 26th minutes in the second half.

    “At that point, everyone was trying to create space so that we could drive in goals,” Tarver said about those last two scores. “It was tough to get settled and organized.”

    The Big Red scored the final goal of the game with 1:03 remaining.

    Head coach Anne Phillips said that despite the loss, she was impressed with the performance of the team’s freshmen.

    “The freshmen are coming along, players like Jen DeVito and Tarver on offense, and Kallie Parchman on defense,” head coach Anne Phillips said in a press release. “The freshmen are starting to adjust to the D-I level, and that bodes well for the future.”

    Looking forward, the team has just two more games remaining this season. The Bulldogs will face Brown next week in their last Ivy League matchup.

    “We need to prove it to ourselves and to everyone that we are capable of winning and that we are a great team,” Rhodes said.

    The Bulldogs will face the Bears at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

  4. W. LACROSSE | Bulldogs to play last Ivy home game

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    After three straight losses, the women’s lacrosse team (2–10, 0–5 Ivy) will have a chance to bounce back at home this Saturday against Cornell (4–7, 2–4).

    The Bulldogs’ game against the Big Red will be their last home conference matchup this season. The Big Red head into Saturday’s game with a 14–7 win against Brown (6–7, 1–4). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are coming off of their third straight loss and first-ever loss against Columbia last weekend.

    Though the team was disappointed about that loss, the Bulldogs say they are trying to look forward.

    “As with any opponent we face this year, our destiny is in our own hands,” midfielder Logan Greer ’11 said. “If we can put a coherent game together and score on attack, we should be successful.”

    The team struggled on offense against Columbia. While the Bulldogs had 20 shots on goal to the Lions’ 24, they were only able to net three. Because of that low offensive output, Greer said this week, the team has focused on fundamentals and correcting mistakes. They also have been trying new players in new positions, she said.

    Though Yale holds a 19-13 all-time record against Cornell, the Bulldogs lost to the Big Red last season, 12–5. Midfielder Devon Rhodes ’13 and attacker Caroline Crow ’12 lead the Bulldogs’ attack with 15 and 12 goals respectively. Crow missed last week’s game against the Lions due to a concussion and will be out this week as well.

    On the Cornell side junior attacker Jessi Steinberg leads the team with 30 goals. Senior captain Libby Johnson is second with 18 goals and needs just two points to join Cornell’s top-ten career scoring list. She currently has 128 career points.

    The game takes on the Big Red at 1 p.m. at Reese Stadium.

  5. M. LACROSSE | Bulldogs in prime position for postseason

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    While second-semester status has sapped many Yale students’ energy, the Bulldogs’ men’s lacrosse team showed no signs of senioritis as they beat Brown 10–6 at Reese Stadium on Saturday. The game was the last regular season home match for the members of the class of 2011.

    After a pre-game ceremony to honor their seniors, the No. 18 Elis (8–2, 3–2) struggled early before taking control of the game in the second half. On the shoulders of attackmen Brian Douglass ’11 and Matt Gibson ’12, the Bulldog offense put nonstop pressure on Brown’s all-star goalkeeper Matt Chriss and put the Bear defense to shame with eight second-half goals.

    “The defense played very well, and kept the game close when the offense was struggling in the first half,” midfielder Matt Miller ’12 said. “In the second half we played the style of lacrosse we strive for — winning ground balls and making hustle plays.”

    Yale’s close defense, led by Michael McCormack’s ’13 five forced turnovers and four ground balls, as well as three big second-half saves by John Falcone ’11, prevented any shot at a late comeback from Brown (4–7, 1–3). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs greatly improved on offensive ball possession, suffering only 10 turnovers against Brown, compared with their 24 turnovers in an early-April loss to Penn.

    The win brings the Bulldogs closer to a bid for the Ivy League post-season tournament, where the winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Yale is currently tied for second place in the conference with Penn, and only needs to maintain its spot in the top four to make the tournament. But questions still remain regarding the team’s ability to put together a 60-minute effort on both sides of the field.

    “We definitely need to focus on playing the entire game,” Miller said.

    Brown dominated from the opening faceoff of the first quarter, and Parker Brown put Yale in an early hole when he finished off a string of quick Brown passes with a shot that whistled over Falcone’s stick and into the top corner of the net 50 seconds into the game.

    Turnovers plagued the Bulldogs in the following minutes, but the defense held strong against a sustained Bears attack. Two more shots nonetheless got by Falcone before the quarter was done, and the Elis soon found themselves in a 3–0 hole.

    Douglass, the team’s leading scorer, finally put Yale on the board in the second quarter. Though Brown responded quickly, he scored again before halftime to pull the Elis within two goals. That 4–2 deficit held until the two teams returned to their locker rooms. But the Bulldogs would not let it last when play restarted.

    Brandon Mangan ’14 scored just 16 seconds into the third quarter, and three more Elis soon tallied to give Yale the lead. Andrew Cordia’s ’13 fourth goal of the season tied the game at 4–4 4:25 into the half, and though the Bears retook the lead a minute later, the advantage would be its last. Greg Mahony ’12 and Michael Lipin ’13 scored within 2:05 of each other and the score remained 6–5 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

    From then on, Senior Day was all Yale. Gibson earned his first goal of the game and a spot on the highlight reel when he sprinted around the goal, jumped to get some distance over his defender, and fired home a twisting, leaping shot. His acrobatic effort made the score 7–5 and proved to be the game-winning goal.

    The Bears’ Rob Schlesinger ended five minutes of scoreless play and pulled Brown within a single goal with a goal 6:46 before the final whistle. But the Bulldogs, who gave up four goals in the last two minutes of their win over Dartmouth last week, did not let the visitors take back the momentum this time. Jack Flaherty ’11 and Gibson each notched unassisted goals in the game’s final five minutes, and Yale rolled to victory.

    “I’m very grateful and honored to have played with [my senior teammates] for four years and it was special to see everyone on the team contribute towards making Saturday a memorable Senior Day,” Falcone said.

    The Elis travel to Bryant on Tuesday and Georgetown on Saturday for their last non-league games of the season.

  6. W. LACROSSE | Bulldogs stay winless in Ivies

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    The Yale and Columbia women’s lacrosse teams both came into Saturday’s matchup without a win in the Ivy League — the Bulldogs emerged still winless in the conference.

    The Bulldogs (2–10, 0–5 Ivy) stuck with the Lions (3–8, 1–4) in the first half, finishing the period with a 2–2 tie. But near the end of the second half Columbia leapt to a large lead, scoring the last six goals of the game to defeat the Bulldogs, 10–3. The Eli offense struggled without its second leading scorer, attacker Caroline Crow ’12, who was out with a concussion. It was the first time the Bulldogs had ever lost to the Lions in the team’s history. With the loss, Yale remains in last place in the conference and is the only team without a single Ivy win.

    “Going into the game, we were very confident and possibly blinded by fact they had not done so well in last few years,” midfielder Devon Rhodes ’13 said. “We’re all upset; if there was any game in the Ivy League that we could win, it was Columbia — and we didn’t take advantage.”

    After Columbia scored the first goal of the game, attacker Jen DeVito ’14 and Rhodes scored goals in the 17th and 23rd minutes. In the last five minutes of the first half, Columbia netted another goal to tie the game.

    In the second half of the contest, the Bulldogs only made one goal to the Lions’ eight. After two Columbia goals in the first ten minutes of the second half, midfielder Courteney Rutter ’14 briefly interrupted the Lions’ goal streak by making her first career goal. But Columbia answered back and kept the Bulldogs scoreless for the rest of the game. In the last 13 minutes, the Lions racked up six goals to seal the win.

    “We held with Columbia throughout first half, but in the second half we weren’t able to produce and score goals,” midfielder Logan Greer ’11 said. “They had a few lucky breaks on attack, got a lead, and gained momentum.”

    Greer added that the absence of Crow to injury had a major impact on the game.

    “It was a huge loss for the team, not only because she is incredibly talented, but also because she is a leader for the attack,” Greer said. “Without leadership on attack, no one was able to step up and fill her shoes, and the team had difficulty organizing attack.”

    Both Greer and Rhodes said they felt that the team lost its composure as Columbia ramped up its lead. Rhodes and Rutter said that despite the disappointing loss, the team must move forward.

    “We’re going to put this loss behind us, and use it as motivation to beat Cornell and Brown and finish the season strong,” Rutter said.

    Cornell and Brown will be the last two Ivy League opponents for the Bulldogs this year. Yale is slated to host the Big Red at 1 p.m. on Saturday and will face the Bears next Wednesday.

  7. W. LACROSSE | A battle of the winless

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    The women’s lacrosse team will look to stop a two-game losing streak when it faces Columbia today in New York in a battle of league winless teams.

    The Bulldogs (2–9, 0–4 Ivy) and the Lions (2–9, 0–4) have both struggled this season and are tied for last place in the Ancient Eight. While the two teams are looking for their first conference wins, Columbia will also still be seeking is first victory ever against the Elis.

    Yale has a 14–0 all-time record against the Lions, including a 12–4 win last season. In that game, five players — midfielder Kristen Chapman ’13, attacker Caroline Crow ’12, midfielder/defender Kaitlyn Flatley ’11, midfielder Logan Greer ’11 and midfielder Devon Rhodes ’13 — each scored two goals.

    This season, Rhodes and Crow have scored the most goals for the Bulldogs with 14 and 12 goals, respectively. Attacker Jen DeVito ’14 is close behind with 10. Despite the team’s losing record, there have been defensive bright spots as well. In Yale’s last game, against Princeton, goalie Whitney Quackenbush ’12 made a career-high 18 saves.

    Rhodes said a win tomorrow would provide the team with a much needed morale booster.

    “I hope the defense can play as strong as they have been and that the attack can execute their plays and capitalize on shot selection,” she said.

    On Wednesday, Columbia broke a six-game losing streak when it defeated Lafayette, 13—11. Kacie Johnson and Taylor Gattinella lead the Lions’ attack with 27 and 21 goals, respectively. Other than Lafayette, Columbia has only won other game, a 13–11 victory over Iona in early March.

    Following this week’s game, Yale has only two more conference games before the end of the season and is out of the running for an Ivy League title.

    The game against the Lions is slated to begin at 4 p.m. on Friday.

  8. M. LACROSSE | 9-7 win puts Yale in second place tie

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    First-time spectators at Reese Stadium could have been puzzled by what looked like a brick wall in Yale’s defense on Saturday.

    Though it faltered late, the defense on the No. 18 men’s lacrosse team looked invincible for much of the game, and held Dartmouth scoreless for 39 consecutive minutes of the Elis’ 9–7 win. The close final score did not represent the domination by the Bulldogs (7–2, 2–2). A slew of penalties and defensive breakdowns in the last two minutes of the contest enabled the visiting Big Green (4–5, 1–2) to turn a 9–3 blowout into a respectable two-goal defeat.

    “We spent the week of practice trying to get our defensive mantra back,” defenseman Peter Johnson ’13 said. “Aside from the slip at the end, we showed what we are capable of when we play as a solid unit.”

    The win bumped the Bulldogs up to a second-place tie with No. 12 Penn for second place in the Ivy League. While No. 6 Cornell will almost undoubtedly finish the regular season atop the conference, the Ivy League’s automatic bid for the NCAA tournament will be decided by a four-team post-season tournament for the second consecutive year.

    Given Yale’s two early-season losses to Penn and Cornell and a weak strength of schedule, it is unlikely that the Bulldogs will have a shot at an at-large bid for the tournament. But Saturday’s win versus Dartmouth puts Yale in a good position going into the last two conference matches against Brown and Harvard.

    “Brown is a great team, so were going to have to have a great week of practice to prepare,” captain and long stick midfielder Pat Coleman ’11 said.

    Greg Mahony ’12 opened the scoring for Yale two minutes into play when he rifled the ball past Dartmouth goalie Fergus Campbell. But it was Brian Douglass ’11 and Matt Gibson ’12 who put the large crowd of 1,876 on its feet early on with highlight-reel goals.

    The Bulldogs and Big Green had been tied at 1–1 for most of the first quarter when Douglass dove for a lead pass in front of the Dartmouth goal and sent a shot past Campbell before he hit the ground. The acrobatic effort gave Yale a lead it would hold for the rest of the game.

    That lead increased to as many as six goals as the Elis dominated the second and third quarters. Douglass and Gibson combined for three goals and three assists during the stretch, and Coleman ’11 showcased Yale’s dominance when he intercepted a Dartmouth pass in front of Falcone, sprinted the length of the field, and put his team up 5–3 with a blistering shot. The Elis headed to the locker room up 7–3, and increased that advantage to 9–3 after a dominant third quarter.

    “We’ve been working hard recently to cut down on the turnovers and the offense did a great job of it in the game as well as our clearing game,” Coleman said.

    That dominance came in large part thanks to the efforts of the defense, which held the Big Green off the scoreboard for the last 11 minutes of the second quarter and for the first 28:03 of the second half. Through the first three quarters, Dartmouth managed only 16 shots. Yale took 39.

    “We showed our potential when we played as a core and slid to each other,” Johnson said. “Dartmouth is a solid offensive team who we were able to lock down six v. six.”

    As Dartmouth’s offense sputtered, Douglass scored what proved to be the winning goal when he put the home team up 8–3 early in the third. He dodged from behind the goal, beat the Big Green defense to the goal line extended, and fired a jumping shot over Campbell.

    Mahony scored his second goal of the day 1:05 into the final frame, and Yale stifled every Dartmouth attempt at a comeback until two minutes were left in the game. Then the Big Green came to life.

    Adam Boardman scored with 1:57 to go, and the visitors scored three more times in the next 1:36 to narrow the Yale lead to 9–7. But time proved too short for a six-goal comeback, and the Elis hung on for the win.

    “We played 58 minutes of good defense,” defenseman Michael McCormack ’13 said. “We need to complete a whole game and we didn’t do it [on Saturday].”

    Yale will try to keep pace in the Ancient Eight when it hosts Brown on Saturday.

  9. W. LACROSSE | Bulldogs seeking first Ivy victory

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    After two wins at home, the women’s lacrosse team (2–8, 0–3 Ivy) will seek its third when it faces No. 13 Princeton (5–3, 2–0) this Saturday.

    The Bulldogs are looking for their first Ivy League victory of the season and are currently seventh in league, just ahead of Columbia, which has four conference losses. The team’s last league game resulted in a tough loss against No. 21 Harvard (3–4, 2–1), 19-3.

    “With the exception of Harvard, our team has matched up very well against the Ivies we have played and I hope that we will again rise to the occasion,” captain Fielding Kidd ’11 said in an email.

    After a win last weekend at home against Colgate, 10–7, the team suffered a loss against No. 17 Georgetown, 16–3, two days later. Kidd said the win against Colgate helped boost the team’s confidence, but that the subsequent loss at Georgetown seemed to strip that confidence away.

    The team’s freshmen, who racked up eight goals last weekend, are playing a big role on the team this season. Midfielder Ashley McCormick ’14 scored three goals against Colgate while attacker Jen DeVito ’14 made one goal against the Raiders and two against Georgetown. Midfielder Adrienne Tarver ’14 and Sabine van der Linden ’14 each scored their first career goals.

    Defensively, Kidd leads the team in ground balls with 16, while midfielder Devon Rhodes ’13 and attacker Caroline Crow ’12 lead the Bulldog offense with 13 and 12 goals, respectively.

    “When we walk out onto that field we will be as prepared as we can be to face Princeton,” Kidd said. “It is what we do with that preparation that will control our destiny.”

    Princeton heads into Saturday’s game with the momentum of two wins against Georgetown, 12–11, and Cornell, 15–10. After the latter game, goalkeeper Erin Tochihara was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for her 10-save performance. Attacker Lizzy Drumm and midfielder Cassie Pyle lead the team in goals this season with 17 and 13, respectively.

    On the day of the Bulldogs’ game against the Tigers, the team will be honoring women’s hockey player Mandi Schwartz ’11, who passed away on Sunday, by wearing armbands with her number, 17, on them, and by observing a moment of silence.

    “With the newest addition to our team being Bray Ketchum ’11, a senior ice hockey player, the death of Mandi has directly affected our team,” Kidd said. “I can only hope that our team shows as much courage and fight against Princeton that Mandi showed against cancer.”

    The game will also be the team’s Alumnae Day. As a senior, Kidd said she is looking forward to seeing her old teammates again.

    Following the women’s game against Princetion, the Yale men’s team will host Dartmouth. The two games are part of the dedication of Reese Stadium, named after two former Bulldogs, Jason Reese ’87 and Jon Reese ’90. The women’s game is slated to begin at noon.

  10. M. LACROSSE | Elis lose heartbreaker

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    Three overtime periods on a cold and rainy Friday afternoon in Philadelphia spelled defeat for No. 15 Yale men’s lacrosse (5–2, 1–2 Ivy). Last week they were a comeback team, but this week they let their opponent, No. 13 Penn (5–3, 2–1), storm back in the second half.

    “We all agree that this year we haven’t put together a complete game this season,” midfielder Matt Miller ’12 said. “And that won’t happen until we limit our turnovers.”

    For the second week in a row, Yale (5–2, 1–2) ended up in overtime. Whereas last week against Princeton, the Bulldogs made up for a flat first half by closing a four-goal deficit to draw extra time, Yale lost a 6–3 lead early in the third quarter en route to the triple-overtime loss. Meanwhile, uncharacteristic hiccups by Yale’s close defense and all-star goalkeeper John Falcone ’11 burned the Bulldogs in a back-and-forth game decided by a fluke dodge and score by Quaker freshman Drew Belinsky.

    Two fundamentals made the difference: turnovers and penalties. Yale committed a season-high 24 turnovers and 7 penalties in the game, enabling the Quakers to convert on three man-up opportunities. Trailing by three goals in the half, Penn went on a 5–0 streak to open the third quarter, featuring two scores by junior midfielder Dan Savage with Yale playing a man down.

    “The third period was pretty tough for us,” Miller said. “We didn’t come out as fired up as we did for the rest of the game. The penalties killed us.”

    While Yale regrouped in the fourth, forcing overtime on a shot from Miller with 37 seconds left in regulation, the Bulldogs failed to generate any offense in extra time. Yale’s lone shot on goal in the three overtime periods came four seconds into the first overtime, as Brandon Mangan ’14 tried to score his second game-winner in as many weeks with a hard bouncer from just inside the restraining line. But Penn goalie Brian Feeney snagged Mangan’s shot for one of the keeper’s six saves on the day. Two overtimes later, Penn capitalized on its first shot on goal in overtime, and sent the Bulldogs home exhausted and with their helmets held low.

    The game had seesawed back and forth starting in the opening minute, as the two teams traded scoring runs. Penn attackman Corey Winkoff gave his team the lead just 1:16 into the game when his shot bounced off Falcone and then trickled over the goal line, just out of reach of the diving goaltender. But the Elis responded with two goals of their own in the next ten minutes and controlled the pace for the rest of the first half.

    Brian Douglass ’11 made the score 2–1 for Yale in the first quarter when he took a crossing pass from Gibson and rifled a bouncing shot past Quaker goalie Brian Feeney. Although Penn responded late in the opening frame to tie the game, the Elis took control in the second quarter with three goals in just 1:50.

    That run, which included goals from three different Elis, gave Yale a 5–2 lead. The home team responded to bring itself within two, but Douglass ensured that Yale would take a three-goal margin into the locker room when he raced around the left side of the Penn net, dove and flipped the ball past the beaten goaltender.

    Yale could not maintain the momentum from the Douglass goal when it took the field again for the second half. The Quakers erupted for five unanswered third-goals in the quarter to seize an 8–6 advantage. Yale would not lead again.

    Though the Bulldogs could not retake the advantage, they did tally three of the last four goals in regulation to send the game into sudden-death overtime. The last of those came with Yale down 9–8 just 37 seconds before the final whistle. Miller took advantage of man-up opportunity when he sprinted past a group of defenders and beat Penn’s goalie to the top corner.

    The teams would have to play two full overtimes before Belinsky won the game for the Quakers. Yale survived a scare in the first extra frame when Corey Winkoff seemed to score on Falcone, but the goal was waved off for a crease violation.

    Yale breathed a little easier in the second four-minute overtime period when it controlled most of the possession, but the Elis missed all four of their shots. They barely had a chance to think back on those misses in the third overtimes, as it took Belinsky a mere 45 seconds to win the contest for the Quakers.

    The close loss highlighted just how close the teams at the top of the Ivy League are. Even though Yale’s past three games have been decided by a total of just four goals, the Bulldogs have come out on the wrong side in two of them.

    Yale will follow up its longest game since 2001 when it kicks off a three-game homestand against Providence on Tuesday.

  11. W. LACROSSE | Mixed results for Elis

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    This weekend, the women’s lacrosse team broke its three-game losing streak, but then, less than 48 hours later, fell back into the losing column.

    On Friday, the Bulldogs defeated Colgate 10–7 at home before travelling on the road to Washington, D.C., where Yale lost 16–3 to Georgetown on Sunday afternoon.

    After a tough loss to Harvard last week, the team fought back in the Friday game against Colgate.

    Captain Fielding Kidd ’11 said that they went to the field ready to win.

    Three players made their first goals of the season, with midfielder Adrienne Tarver ’14 and Sabine van der Linden ’14 each putting in a goal and midfielder Logan Greer ’11 adding two to the score. Meanwhile, attacker Ashley McCormick ’14 had in three goals in the game, doubling her total for the season.

    In the first half, after a goal from the Raiders in the third minute, Greer scored in the 14th minute of the game to match Colgate’s first point. Colgate pushed back less than 15 seconds after Greer’s goal and would enter halftime with a 3–2 lead.

    In the second half, Yale started off with a bang, scoring eight of the next nine goals. Within the first two minutes, van der Linden and Greer added two more points to the Bulldogs’ score. Later in the second half, the team was able to make a six-point streak. The final three goals were made by the Raiders in the last three minutes as they tried to fight back against the Bulldogs.

    “It’s unfortunate that we let in a couple more goals at the end, but we still ended the game with a win, which was most important,” Kidd said.

    Both McCormick and Kidd said that the team was able to rebound after last week’s tough loss to Harvard by having a team discussion, where they pinpointed main problems in the team’s play.

    “Once we recognized that most of the issues stemmed from a psychological standpoint in terms of confidence and mental strength, we bonded together as a team in order to eradicate that weak spot from our game,” McCormick said.

    Tarver added that the team felt good going into the game against Colgate.

    “After spending the week regrouping as a team, I knew we were going to play a lot better than we had against Harvard,” Tarver said.

    The game was the Bulldogs’ second win of the season. The team’s first victory was on March 12 was an 11–8 win over Marist and was also at home.

    Coming off of the win against Colgate, the Yale team faced No. 17 Georgetown. After two goals from the Hoyas, Jen DeVito ’14 scored two goals in the fourth and fifth minutes of the first half to level the score 2–2. But while these were the last Yale scores in the first half, the Hoyas were just getting started. By halftime they had a nine-point lead.

    Georgetown did not let up in the second half, as it scored five of the six goals that occurred after the break. Caroline Crow ’12 made the last goal for the Bulldogs in the 17th minute.

    Kidd said that she thought that Georgetown was able to pinpoint the team’s weaknesses and pick them apart.

    “They were a very fast team and were able to use their speed against us.” Kidd said.

    Looking forward to the team’s next four games against Ivy opponents, McCormick said the team united under the same collective goal: to win the rest of the Ivy League games and make it into the Ivy tournament for the seven seniors.

    The Bulldogs’ next will play host to Princeton on Saturday at noon.