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M. LACROSSE | No. 15 Yale to face No. 13 Penn

March 31, 2011 11:50 pm Leave a Comment

Less than a week after barely escaping Princeton with an overtime win, the No. 15 men’s lacrosse team will travel to Philadelphia to meet a No. 13 Penn team that’s playing some of its best lacrosse in recent history.

“[The Princeton game] certainly wasn’t the prettiest we have played, but a win is a win,” Captain and Long Stick Midfielder Pat Coleman ’11 said on Sunday. “We have some stuff we need to continue working on [to prepare] for a very good Penn team.”

The Bulldogs (5–1, 1–1) have defeated the Quakers (4–3, 1–1) in their past two meetings and hold a 46–26 record against Penn in a series that dates back to 1919. But the Quakers are undefeated at home in 2011, where they’ve dominated traditional powerhouses No. 3 Duke and Princeton by a combined score of 15–6. Two of Penn’s three losses to Top 20 teams have come in overtime, including a 13–12 thriller against No. 11 Cornell last Saturday.

“I think everyone understands what a good team Penn is,” Coleman said. “They are an awesome team between the lines and play very tough.”

Yale will need another stellar performance from a close defense led by three sophomores — Phil Gross ’13, Peter Johnson ’13 and Michael McCormack ’13 — and more spot-on goalkeeping from John Falcone ’11, who is currently fifth in the country with a .614 save percentage. Together with a starting defensive midfield of Coleman and short-stick defenders Michael Pratt ’12 and Mark Dobrosky ’12, the Bulldogs have limited opponents to 6.33 goals per game and lead Division I with 12.33 caused turnovers per game.

While Yale is currently second in the nation in scoring, the statistic is greatly influenced by 22-goal performances against two of the worst teams in Division I — Presbyterian and Mercer. 2010 New England Player of the Year Matt Gibson ’12 has struggled to hold onto the ball in the last two games, suffering eight turnovers on errant passes and unsuccessful, fancy stick work.

“Penn’s D is incredibly talented and fast so we felt the best we could do [in practice] was to prepare for a grind on the offensive end and really focus on getting our details right,” Douglass said. “Not wasting any possessions is going to be a key this week.”

To make up for weak production from Gibson and team points leader Brian Douglass ’11 against Cornell and Princeton, head coach Andy Shay relied on strong midfield isolation play led by Greg Mahony ’12 and Matt Miller ’12 to pressure their opponents from in front of the goal.

The team has also benefited from the placement of attackman Brandon Mangan ’14 on the offensive midfield and attackman Deron Dempster ’13 down low, giving Mangan more space to work from the restraining line. Mangan has scored four goals in his last two games, including a a game-winner against Princeton, while Dempster’s finished three of his own.

“The rotation has been working really well,” Mangan said. “Deron has been playing excellent finishing the ball inside and I have gotten a lot more opportunities playing midfield.”

Yale’s defense will need to shut down Penn’s dynamic duo of senior attackmen Al Kohart (14 goals, 3 assists) and Corey Winkoff (4 goals, 12 assists) in order to keep the game a low scoring contest. The Bulldogs outlasted a fierce Quaker comeback with a 16–14 victory last year and successfully made up a five-goal deficit to beat Penn 14–13 in 2009.

Stingy defense and long offensive possessions against Penn today will free up opportunities for the midfield and attack to pressure freshman goalkeeper Brain Feeney, whose long poles are helping to cover up a lackluster .495 save percentage.

Yale faces off against Penn at Franklin Field in Philadelphia today at 4 P.M.

M. LACROSSE | Bulldogs win overtime thriller

March 28, 2011 1:27 am Leave a Comment

A 33-minute scoring drought and 22 Yale turnovers could not stop the No. 19 men’s lacrosse team from defeating Princeton for the first time since 2005 in New Jersey on Saturday. The Bulldogs (5–1, 1–1 Ivy) won in dramatic fashion, as Brandon Mangan’s ’14 scorching shot from a bad angle, 20+ feet from the goal, beat All-American goalie Tyler Fiorito 33 seconds into overtime to give Yale an 8–7 victory.

With five minutes left in the third quarter, Yale trailed 6–2, with Princeton (1–5, 0–2) dominating possession and continuing to pressure goalie John Falcone ’11. But a gorgeous quick stick by attackman Matt Gibson ’12 off of a feed from Mark Dobrosky ’12 sparked a 5–1 rally in the last third of the game. Attackman Deron Dempster ’13 finished the comeback when his goal tied the game at 7 with 1:03 left in regulation.

“Getting a win against Princeton, regardless of their current record, is great just because of the rivalry that exists between our two schools and how close the games have been recently,” Falcone said.

Saturday’s game appeared very similar to last May’s Ivy League tournament semi-final against Princeton, a 7-6 Yale loss that ruined any NCAA Tournament hopes for the Bulldogs. In that defensive battle, the Bulldogs led by a single goal at the end of the first quarter, before the Tigers took control in the middle half of the game and fought off a late four-goal comeback by the Elis to win.

This time around, Yale took a 2–1 lead nearly seven minutes into the first quarter on a point blank shot by Brian Douglass ’11 that beat Fiorito high. But Princeton’s stingy defense and great control on offense overwhelmed a Yale team that failed to put pressure on the Princeton goal for most of the game.

For a Princeton team that has suffered from the injuries of All-American attackman Jack McBride, starting defenseman Rob Castelo and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Mike Chanenchuk (Chanenchuk has since withdrawn from Princeton) this season, things seemed to be working out heading into the locker room with a 5–2 lead at the half. Chris McBride stepped up in his cousin’s absence, scoring two first half goals that helped the Tigers to their fifth 3+ goal lead in their first six games.

“Princeton will always be a great team, so they’ll always be a tough team to beat,” Douglass said. “Everyone [in the Ivy League] is good and has to be respected.”

Princeton came out firing again in the third quarter, as attackman Forrest Sonnenfeldt buried one past Falcone with 7:36 left in the period. But the Bulldogs bounced back, out-working and out-hustling their opponents to 9-6 advantages on ground balls and forcing three key turnovers in the third.

Gutsy play by Falcone and Yale’s defense gave the Elis offensive midfield and attack room to work toward the end of the quarter, as they charged back with three goals in four minutes, beginning with Gibson’s fifth goal for the season. Trailing 6–4, Princeton’s star defenseman Chad Wiedmaier committed his sixth penalty on the year. Yale’s man-up offense rose to the occasion, with Matt Miller ’12 scoring to cut Princeton’s lead to 6–5.

“Once again, our coach’s put together an exceptional defensive game plan and we executed it well,” Falcone said. “Like always our long-sticks played with outstanding effort and got after the tough ground balls on the Princeton AstroTurf.”

Yale never let up, scoring first in the fourth on a great combo from middie Greg Mahony ’12 to Dempster to tie the game at 6-6 with 9 minutes to play. Princeton, showing just the slightest bounce in their step, ended a 17:21 scoreless streak and regained the lead on Sonnenfeldt’s second goal, with 5:15 left to play.

Up 7–6, Princeton continued to pressure, while Yale nearly let the game slip away through an off-sides mishap at midfield that thwarted the Bulldogs’ hopes in transition with three minutes left to play. Yet, true to his form, Falcone shifted the momentum by knocking Princeton’s Tom Schreiber out of bounds and giving Yale possession. On the ensuing possession, Dempster finished his second goal of the quarter on a feed from Gibson to tie the game 7–7. The Tigers bit back, as Sonnenfeldt attempted to take the team on his back on a dangerous shot with 10 seconds left, but Falcone shut the door and sent the game into overtime.

“To come back from being down 6–2 took a lot of character,” Douglass said. “It was a huge step forward for us to do that.”

Princeton possessed the ball first in the OT, but the Tigers’ Bobby Lucas quickly lost the ball, which Gibson scooped up, enabling Coach Andy Shay to call a timeout. Fresh out of the huddle, the ball ended up in Mangan’s stick by the restraining line. In what sometimes would be deemed a freshman mistake, the midfielder/attackman took a long-range shot on Yale’s first possession. But it paid off, as the shot made its way through two defenders and a surprised Fiorito to win the game for the Bulldogs.

“I’m not really sure what I was thinking by shooting from that far out with no angle,” Mangan said. “But I’m really happy I did.”

The Bulldogs will next travel to Penn (4–3, 1–1) to face the Quakers on Friday afternoon.

W. LACROSSE | Elis stay winless in Ivy League

12:31 am Leave a Comment

The women’s lacrosse team suffered its largest defeat of the season on Saturday, falling to No. 18 Harvard 19–3.

The Crimson got off to a quick start with three goals within the first six minutes of the game, and the Bulldogs never recovered. Harvard dominated the Elis by winning seven of 10 draws and held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half en route to a commanding victory. The loss extended the Bulldogs’ losing streak to three, and was the team’s seventh of the season. They have yet to win a game in the Ivy League conference.

“We didn’t give up, but it was hard to fight back after Harvard gained so much momentum,” midfielder Devon Rhodes ’13 said.

After Harvard’s initial three goals, Rhodes put Yale on the scoreboard with a goal in the eighth minute. But the Crimson answered back with four straight goals to increase its lead to 7–1. Attackers Caroline Crow ’12 and Jen DeVito ’14 kept the Bulldogs in the game with goals of their own in the 21st and 25th minutes, respectively, to put the Bulldogs back within four points.

“Four goals is not a lot to recover from,” DeVito said.

But that four-goal margin quickly grew larger. Just over three minutes later, Jenn Leffew scored another goal for the Crimson, and sparked a 12–0 Harvard run to finish the game.

Devito said the team had difficulty with draw controls against Harvard, which won nine of 14 draws. The Crimson also took 18 ground balls to Yale’s three.

“We can usually stay pretty even with the other teams in getting draws, but this time we had trouble getting the ball back,” DeVito said.

Saturday’s game was a marked departure from last season, when the Bulldogs defeated Harvard 17–13. In that game, Yale took a 12–2 lead in the first half and narrowly escaped a second half Harvard comeback in which the Crimson outscored the Bulldogs 11–6.

“After last year, we knew that Harvard wanted to come back and get revenge,” Rhodes said, adding that Harvard is a stronger team this year than in years past.

Danielle Tetreault and Jenn VanderMeulen led the Crimson with four goals each. Harvard goalie Kerry Clark saved five of eight shots on goal. For the Bulldogs, Erin McMullan ’14 saved four of 12 shots, while Whitney Quackenbush ’12 saved three of 14.

While Harvard’s 19 points was the largest total the Bulldogs have allowed this season, Devito said that the defense was not to blame.

“The defense played well, but Harvard had a few strong shooters and great shots,” DeVito said. “It’s not the defense’s fault if we can’t get [possession of] the ball first.”

The Bulldogs will have two non-conference games, against Colgate and Georgetown, this weekend before returning to Ivy League play the following week against Princeton. After the loss to Harvard, Crow said the team will re-evaluate its strategy and make adjustments before its next game.

“Our team has a lot of talent, but we are struggling this year to put our games together,” attacker Caroline Crow ’12 said.

The Bulldogs will face Colgate at home on Friday at 4 p.m. and will travel to Georgetown for a 2 p.m. game on Sunday.

M. LACROSSE | Yale suffers first defeat of season

March 21, 2011 12:00 am Leave a Comment

A momentum-shifting three goal run in the second quarter and strong close defense led No. 12 Cornell (4–2, 1–0 Ivy) to a 10–8 victory over No. 16 Yale men’s lacrosse (4–1, 0–1) at Reese Stadium on Saturday. After Big Red attackman Steve Mock notched his first of a game-high four goals with 4:26 to go in the second, the visitors scored another two to close out the half and took the lead for good.

While it improved on last year’s 18–7 loss to Cornell in Ithaca, Yale could not capitalize on advantages in shots on goal and face-offs and increased its losing streak against the Big Red to 12 games.

[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”4659″ ]

“Cornell plays a very high pace game and as a result can be very aggressive on the defensive end,” attackman Brian Douglass ’11 said. “We were on an upswing offensively, we just ran out of time.”

Entering Saturday’s game with the best save percentage in Division I, John Falcone ’11 was well-prepared for the widely-heralded Cornell attack of Mock, Rob Pannell and David Lau, who have combined for 24 of the Big Red’s 36 goals this season.

But inconsistent defensive slides left Cornell’s attackmen wide-open on the crease two times too many, while Falcone’s hard-earned 10 saves and clean clears failed to stimulate an offense that was unable to get settled from behind the Big Red goal.

The game began as a defensive duel, with Yale netminder Falcone turning away four of the first five shots he faced. Cornell broke open the scoring on a goal by Keith Thompson 4:30 into the period. With Fiore frustrating Yale’s attackmen from point blank, midfielder Greg Mahony ’12 approached from just inside the restraining line, dodged his defender with a quick step and fired home a high bouncer that beat the goalie stick side to tie the game at 1–1 with 5:40 left in the first.

“In any game, we dodge with the players that have the best matchups,” Mahony said. “Matt [Gibson ’12] and Brian [Douglass] drew so much attention and so many quick slides that it opened up the dodges from up top, and so that’s where we attacked.”

The second period followed much of the same formula, featuring sparse scoring and Yale leading by a goal twice — first on a man-up score by Mahony and second on a hard outside shot by Brandon Mangan ’14.

But Cornell took command of the back-and-forth affair with three goals within a one-and-a-half minute-long period. Lau kicked off the run with a pinpoint feed to Mock, who beat Falcone with a quick shot on the crease.

An illegal hit by midfielder Colin Still ’12 gave the Big Red a man-up opportunity, which they capitalized on 30 seconds into the penalty. Good ball movement by the visitors created a wide open shot for Lau, who faked high and shot low to score from point-blank.

With Cornell defensemen Max Feely and Jason Noble dominating Yale’s typically high-scoring combination of Douglass and Gibson, the Elis struggled to fight back. Meanwhile, the Big Red demonstrated great patience on offense and wore down the Yale defense.

An aggressive two-man slide on Pannell after he beat Peter Johnson ’13 to the goal-line backfired when the attackman found a cutting Jack Dudley, who scored to lead the Big Red into the locker room with a 6–3 advantage.

“We had a few sliding and communication breakdowns that hurt us throughout the game,” Johnson said. “Pannell is definitely the best player I’ve ever covered. He’s a very slick player.”

The Bulldogs fought back hard in the third quarter, but Cornell had an answer to each Yale score. With Yale’s attack still largely ineffective aside from a nice goal-scoring combination from Douglass to attackman Deron Dempster ’13, the home team’s defense sparked several offensive opportunities in transition.

Yale’s last goal of the quarter came after Mahony scooped up a loose ball caused by a beautiful poke check by captain and long stick midfielder Pat Coleman ’11. Mahony sprinted down the field before ripping it past Cornell’s goalie Andrew West, who replaced Fiore for the period. But goals by Cornell’s Steve Mock at the end of the third and a minute into the fourth seemed to put the game out of reach, with the Big Red leading 10–6.

“We will breakdown the film and see where we made our mistakes defensively,” Falcone said. “But overall I thought the game plan was effective and the effort was there.”

Strong late defense by the Bulldogs and saves by Falcone kept the home team in the game. After regaining focus on offense after a time out, Yale charged back with Mangan’s second goal of the game to cut the deficit to 10–7 with 7:19 left to play. Fewer than two minutes later, Still brought the Bulldogs within two on his sixth goal of the season.

After Falcone stuffed Lau on the doorstep with just under four minutes left, Yale’s defensive midfield went storming the other way. Yet an errant pass by Coleman abruptly stopped the Bulldogs offensive opportunity. Following the play, a missed call on a late hit by Cornell left the Yale coaches frustrated, and the visitors were able to take vital time off of the clock.

“Turnovers are a part of the game,” Mahony said. “We just need to make a couple more smart plays and play more as a team.”

Yale’s defense continued to make opportunities for the attack, but shots didn’t fall and sloppy play in isolation increased the Bulldogs’ turnover count to 19 for the game. A questionable cross-checking call on Matt Miller ’12 with 48 seconds to play all but ended Yale’s hope for a comeback, as the Elis, once again, started off conference play with a loss.

“Obviously, it’s a tough loss, but we’re already anxious to get back to practice and prepare for Princeton next Saturday,” Falcone said. “A tough loss like this, though, provides ammunition for the rest of the season and pushes everyone to work harder and get better.”

The Bulldogs last victory against the Big Red came in 1999 with a 7–6 win at the formerly titled “soccer-lacrosse” stadium, featuring 18 saves by captain goalie and All-American honorable mention Joe Pilch ’99.

The team will head to New Jersey on Saturday, March 26 where they will face No. 11 Princeton. The Tigers (1–4, 0–1) lost to No. 18 Penn (4–2, 1–0) for the first time since 1989 in the teams’ Ivy opener on Saturday.

M. LACROSSE | Yale suffers first defeat of season

March 20, 2011 1:17 pm Leave a Comment

A momentum-shifting three goal run in the second quarter and strong close defense led No. 12 Cornell (4-2, 1-0 Ivy) to a 10-8 victory over No. 16 Yale men’s lacrosse (4-1, 0-1) at Reese Stadium on Saturday.

After Big Red attackman Steve Mock notched his first of a game-high four goals with 4:26 to go in the first half, the visitors never looked back and led the Bulldogs for the duration of the game.

While it improved on last year’s 18-7 loss to Cornell in Ithaca, Yale could not capitalize on advantages in shots on goal and face-offs and increased its losing streak against the Big Red to 12 games.

The Bulldogs last victory against the Big Red came in 1999 with a 7-6 win at the formerly titled “soccer-lacrosse” stadium, featuring 18 saves by captain goalie and All-American honorable mention Joe Pilch ’99.

Entering Saturday’s game with the best save percentage in D-1, John Falcone ’11 was well-prepared for the widely-heralded Cornell attack of Mock, Rob Pannell and David Lau, who have combiend for 24 of the Big Red’s 36 goal this season.

But inconsistent defensive slides left Cornell’s attackmen wide-open on the crease two-times too many, while Falcone’s hard-earned 10 saves and clean clears failed to stimulate an offense that was unable to get settled from behind the Big Red goal.

The game began as a defensive duel, with Yale net-minder Falcone turning away four of the first five shots he faced. Cornell broke open the scoring on a goal by Keith Thompson, 4:30 into the period.

With Fiore frustrating Yale’s attackmen from point blank, midfielder Greg Mahony ’12 approached from just inside the restraining line, dodged his defender with a quick step and fired home a high bouncer that beat the goalie stick side to tie the game at 1-1 with 5:40 left in the first.

But Cornell took command of the back-and-forth affair with three goals within a minute and a half long period. Lau kicked off the run with a pinpoint feed to Mock, who beat Falcone with a quick shot on the crease.

“We had a few sliding and communication breakdowns that hurt us throughout the game,” Johnson said. “Pannell is definitely the best player I’ve ever covered. He’s a very slick player.”

Yale’s last goal of the quarter came after Mahony scooped up a loose ball caused by a beautiful poke check by captain and long stick midfielder Pat Coleman ’11. Mahony sprinted down the field before ripping it past Cornell’s goalie Andrew West — who replaced Fiore for the period. But goals by Cornell’s Steve Mock at the end of the third and a minute into the fourth seemed to put the game out of reach, with the Big Red leading 10-6.

“We will breakdown the film and see where we made our mistakes defensively,” Falcone said. “But overall I thought the game plan was effective and the effort was there.”

Strong late defense by the Bulldogs and saves by Falcone kept the home team in the game. After regaining focus on offense after a time out, Yale charged back with Mangan’s second goal of the game to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 7:19 left to play. Fewer than two minutes later, Still brought the Bulldogs within two on his sixth goal of the season.

“Turnovers are a part of the game,” Mahony said. “We just need to make a couple more smart plays and play more as a team.”

The Bulldogs head to New Jersey on Saturday, March 26 where they’ll face No. 11 Princeton. The Tigers (1-4, 0-1) lost to No. 18 Penn (4-2, 1-0) for the first time since 1989 in the teams’ Ivy opener on Saturday.

M. LACROSSE | Two Hat-Tricks and a Yard Sale: No. 18 Bulldogs Blow by Lehigh

March 13, 2011 12:43 am Leave a Comment

Face-offs and flawless defensive slides were the name of the game, as No. 18 Yale men’s lacrosse (4-0) defeated its toughest opponent yet, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (3-3), 10-6 at Reese Stadium on Saturday.

The Bulldogs snuck out of the first half with a 3-2 lead, despite Lehigh’s advantages on possession time and shots on goal. But the home team came out flying with five goals in the third quarter, moving well off the ball in their set offense and burying opportunities against the Mountain Hawks’ goalie Dan Carr. Set to face No. 14 Cornell next Saturday, the Bulldogs hope to use the momentum from a strong team effort against Lehigh to start off conference play with a big victory.

“On defense, we felt it would be one of our biggest challenges to date,” captain and long stick midfielder Pat Coleman ’11 said. “But we stuck to our plan.”

Yale was able to strike first against Lehigh, following a great poke check by Coleman that gave the attack the ball two minutes into the game. Displaying great patience on offense, the Bulldogs worked the ball around the horn, before middie Colin Still ’12 found Brian Douglass ’11 with 12:03 remaining for the attackman’s ninth goal this season.

Lehigh controlled the ball on offense for most of the quarter, but four quality saves by goalie John Falcone ’11 and impeccable close defense kept the Mountain Hawks scoreless. Solid defending against Yale’s middies and an aggressive ride on Yale’s clear gave the visitors multiple chances, but they were never able to finish.

As the first quarter came to a close, a spot-on check by short-stick defender Michael Pratt ’12 sent the Bulldogs racing in transition and able to net another one past Carr. Attackman Deron Dempster ’13 made it look easy, off a laser-fast feed from Coleman — faking high and shooting low and stick side to give Yale a 2-0 lead with 1:49 left in the first.

“I overextended myself a little in the beginning,” Coleman said. “But, it’s pretty helpful to know you have a lot of strong kids behind you.”

The Mountain Hawks climbed back in the second quarter, scoring two unanswered and unassisted goals and smothering Yale’s offense, with Carr making a couple of point-blank saves. Led by Pratt, Coleman and Peter Johnson ’13, the Yale defense was able to make up for some errant passes and overly ambitious dodges by starting midfielders Greg Mahony ’12 and Matt Miller ’12.

The quarter’s only big miscue on defense was a delayed slide on Lehigh Sophomore Alex Drake, who beat his man in isolation and nailed a low hard shot past Falcone to tie the game at 2-2 with 4:23 remaining in the half.

With just under two minutes left, Yale retook the lead on a Matt Gibson ’12 goal worthy of the SportsCenter highlight reel. The 2010 New England Player of the Year, appearing in his first game since the season opener at St. John’s, found his rhythm late in the half and dominated his defender before faking out Carr, who could hardly tell when the ball had hit the net. The goal gave Gibson a big burst of confidence and sent the Bulldogs into the locker room with a 3-2 lead at the end of the first half.

“In practice I haven’t done anything like that. That was my test to see how my back worked out,” Gibson said, commenting on the injury that kept him sidelined for two games.

Going into the second half, the home team knew it had to do a better job possessing the ball offensively and capitalizing on a brilliant face-off performance by Cole Yeager ’13, who won six of seven draws in the first half. Yale’s trademark hustle was best exemplified by the face-off team, with Yeager and Coleman never giving up on a loose ball. Meanwhile, Falcone’s seven first half saves kept the Mountain Hawks’ attack frustrated.

“We talked about keeping our energy up [during the intermission],” Shay said. “We knew that the shots would fall.”

And they did.

Continued dominance on the face-off and great off-the-ball movement by Yale’s attackmen led to two goals within 20 seconds of each other to start the third quarter. First came a quick finish by Gibson off a Miller feed. Then Gibson took a turn as the assist man, finding Douglass for his second goal, a scorcher from inside ten feet that drilled the top right corner of the net to give Yale a 5-2 lead.

Lehigh had a big opportunity to narrow the lead to two, but a wide open shot on the crease by the Mountain Hawks’ leading-scorer, Adam Johnston, was stuffed by Falcone. Following the big save, some strong skip passing on offense freed up Dempster for his second goal of the game with 8:41 left in the third.

The Mountain Hawks answered five minutes later on an unassisted goal by Cameron Lao-Gosney. The junior’s 11th goal of the season came after he burned by defender Phil Gross ’13 from the X, in what was the only major error by the Yale defense during the quarter.

Douglass quickly responded for the Bulldogs with an ankle-braking dodge and a ringer off the post and in, for his third goal of the game at 1:43 left in the quarter. Five seconds later, Yeager took it in by himself, dominating his face-off opponent and rocketing a bouncer past Carr with no Lehigh defenseman in sight.

“It felt really good,” Yeager said. “It was a good momentum booster for the team.”

Lehigh came out hard in the fourth, netting two big goals after a Matt Miller side-armed score, and making Yale’s defense look mortal. While playing man-down due to a hyperactive slash by long stick middie Jimmy Craft ’14, the Mountain Hawks’ Dante Fantoni raced in on net and rifled it past Falcone, who was hustling to get back in the cage after a failed Yale clear with just over three minutes to go.

But Coleman stopped the Mountain Hawk attack with his seventh forced turnover and fifth ground ball, enabling the Bulldogs to burn a minute off the clock until Lehigh recovered on a loose-ball push by Yale.

Lehigh’s last-ditch comeback effort was silenced when a Yale double team sent a Mountain Hawk attackman’s stick flying in a classic “Yard Sale.” With the Bulldogs in control and the clock running out, Mark Dobrosky ’12 lobbed a pass from behind the goal to Gibson, who quick-sticked it into an empty net with 13 seconds left.

While Yale presented a strong defensive performance throughout the game, the Bulldogs will need to commit fewer turnovers and keep moving the ball well on offense in order to beat Cornell this coming Saturday. Stellar performances by Falcone (13 saves), Coleman and Yeager and big hat-tricks by Douglass and Gibson made up for errant passes, mediocre play in isolation and an ineffective second midfield line.

When asked his thoughts about next week’s match against a Cornell team that nearly upset No. 2 Virginia on Saturday, Shay smiled and responded, “I’d rather just enjoy this for the time being.”

Yale faces off against No. 14 Cornell (3-2) at Reese Stadium at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 19.

W. LACROSSE | First season win for Elis

12:24 am Leave a Comment

If you’re going to snap a long losing streak to win your first game of the season, you might as well do it in dramatic fashion.

Devon Rhodes ’13 scored four goals and the women’s lacrosse team (1–4, 0–1 Ivy) used a dominant second half to come from behind and beat Marist (2–3) by an 11–8 margin Saturday afternoon. The Elis overcame early goalie struggles and a deficit that grew to four goals in the first half to earn their first win of the season.

“With an 0–4 record, we were just in a bad place mentally,” Rhodes said. “This is absolutely enormous for us.”

Yale took the field against Marist after three consecutive losses against lacrosse powerhouses. Current No. 14 Boston College and No. 9 Dartmouth beat the Elis last week, and Yale lost again at No. 8 James Madison during a road trip to Virginia Wednesday.

Head coach Anne Phillips said the losing streak was dispiriting, but that the tough competition was necessary for a squad on which 17 of 26 players are freshman or sophomores.

“There are growing pains, but we’re challenging ourselves,” she said. “That trial by fire is necessary with the young team we have this season.”

The Elis did not look inexperienced at the outset, as Kelsea Smith ’13, Caroline Crow ’12, and Rhodes each scored to put their team up, 3–1. But then Marist’s offense came to life.

The Foxes reeled off six unanswered goals, including four from Jori Procaccini, and owned a 7–3 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. The home crowd had gone silent and no amount of Yale strategizing seemed capable of stopping the barrage.

Phillips pulled starting goaltender Whitney Quackenbush ’12 — who had allowed five goals on five Marist shots — in favor of Erin McMullan ’14 after the Foxes’ fourth consecutive goal, but McMullan could not stop a shot either. She allowed two more goals in 13 minutes of play before Rhodes went into high gear.

“[Rhodes] hasn’t been slumping, but she hasn’t quite been putting up the numbers she did last year, so this game was huge for her,” Crow said.

The midfielder’s game was huge for her team as well. Phillips switched her to faceoff duty midway through the first half, and the strategy worked. Rhodes led the Elis with four draw controls, which proved crucial to Yale’s dramatic comeback.

“It was a game of possession,” Crow said. “They were getting the faceoffs early, but we started getting to the fifty-fifty balls in the second [half] and that’s when we turned the game around.”

Rhodes also turned her faceoff success into tallies on the scoreboard. She ended the Marist run with a goal three minutes before halftime, and then scored again 37 seconds before the horn. That tally narrowed the visitors’ lead to 7–5 as the two teams headed to the locker room.

Rhodes did not miss a beat when play resumed. She completed her natural hat trick just 11 seconds into the second half when she won the opening draw, raced downfield, and beat Marist goalie Ashley Casiano with a devastating shot.

“That goal set the tone for the second half,” Phillips said.

Crow scored her second of three goals ten minutes later as the Eli offensive onslaught continued. The Bulldogs outscored the Foxes 6–1 in the half, with goals from five different players.

Attacker Jenn DeVito ’14 scored what became the game-winner when her goal with 6:51 left in the game made the score 9–8. The Bulldogs never looked back. They had fewer turnovers than their opponents for the first time all season, and left the field after the win apprehensive but energized for their next game: an Ivy League contest against No. 3 Penn next Saturday.

With Penn looming ahead, Crow said the victory was a crucial move toward rebounding from a rough start to the season.

“This game showed the freshmen we can win,” she said. “Now we have to build on it.”

M. LACROSSE | First years no match for Yale

March 4, 2011 2:18 am Leave a Comment

The men’s lacrosse team notched its second win in a row Thursday night.

The Bulldogs (2–0) manhandled Presbyterian College (1–3), 22–6, in a lopsided matchup. With a 10–0 lead going into the half, head coach Andy Shay was able to test out some of his freshmen, while stressing the need for longer, controlled possessions on attack and implementing a more effective man-up offense. The team will hope to continue that momentum when it plays tonight against the Mercer Bears (0–5), a team made up almost entirely of freshmen.

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“Coach Shay told us we have to be judicious and play the same against everyone,” Matt Miller ’12 said. “Tonight we passed up on a lot of really good first opportunities, to get really good second opportunitites. It was a good sign of players being unselfish.”

Midfielders Dylan Levings ’14 and Cole Yeager ’13 continued to trade time on face-offs, dominating their opponents with near-perfect records. Six of Yale’s 22 goals came off of its seven man-up opportunities, a drastic improvement over the team’s 1–4 performance against St. John’s last weekend. A number of freshmen hit the goal, including starting attackman Brandon Mangan ’14 and midfielder Jared DePalma ’14, taking full advantage of the playing time they were granted.

“The freshmen kept the throttle down,” defenseman Phil Gross ’13 said. “The fact that we didn’t get complacent was pretty exciting.”

While the Bulldogs understand that they will encounter much stronger opponents later in the season, they were thrilled with their first performance under the lights at home. With the Elis dominating the Blue Hose in the second half, even Yale’s star senior goalie, John Falcone ’11, was given the opportunity to sit back and watch his potential 2012 replacements after stopping four of the five shots he faced.

“I was really excited about it, because I know how hard they work in practice,” Falcone said. “It’s a tough position to practice all the time and not get much playing time. To see them in the game and playing well, it’s really exciting and fun to watch.”

Both newcomers to Division I, Presbyterian and Mercer front-loaded their schedules with games against some of the best teams in the nation. Far from the USILA Top 20 rankings, the teams look to pull off an upset capable of launching them into the public consciousness and, ideally, into a competitive conference.

Mercer has yet to win a game in its program’s first season, but hope to draw some attention to the largely unrecognized and uncompetitive world of Georgian lacrosse. The Bulldogs hope to start exactly where they left off, sticking to fundamentals of face-offs, ground balls, speed, long possessions and effective clears.

“Hopefully we can put in the same effort and get 20-plus goals,” Gross said.

Yale faces off against Mercer at Reese Stadium at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

W. LACROSSE | Bulldogs face hot Big Green

12:29 am Leave a Comment

After two losses in the first two games of the season, the women’s lacrosse team will still be looking for its first win this Saturday when it faces off against Dartmouth.

That game will be Yale’s first Ivy League game of the season, and it may prove to be a difficult one. The Bulldogs faltered against No. 16 BC on Wednesday night and will face a tough No. 15 Dartmouth team that has won both of its first two games this season, defeating New Hampshire and Vermont.

“We’re coming into the game as the underdog because we lost the first two [games],” Caroline Crow ’12 said. “We need to come out with intensity.”

The team struggled on the draw against the Eagles, winning just 10 of 12 in the first half, and gave up 11 goals. The Elis rebounded in the second half, winning half of their draws, but the 18 goals that BC scored on the Bulldogs were too much for them to overcome.

Last season, the Bulldogs lost to Dartmouth, 12–5. The Big Green return 10 of their 12 starters from last year’s squad, including standout attackers Sarah Parks and Greta Meyer. Parks scored 32 goals last year, while Meyers added 35. Meyers leads this year’s team with six goals.

On the Bulldogs’ side, Crow currently leads the team with four goals. Devon Rhodes ’13, who led the team in goals last season as a freshman with 27, is second on the team with two goals this season. She said that she expects a good game and that the Yale team has a lot of talent, adding that Dartmouth is one of the better teams in the Ivy League. She added that a win this weekend is essential.

“We need a big win to rally around for the rest of season,” Crow said.

The game against the Big Green is slated to begin at 1 p.m. this Saturday at Reese Stadium.

W. LACROSSE | Women’s lax struggles against BC

March 3, 2011 1:45 am Leave a Comment

Yale women’s lacrosse was shut out for much of Wednesday’s game versus No. 16 Boston College, and the Bulldogs were unable to stage a comeback.

No. 16 BC (4–0) continued its undefeated streak as it beat Yale (0–2) 18-4 at the Bulldog’s home opener. The Eagles shut out Yale 11–0 in the first half, controlling the game almost entirely, and allowed only four goals in the second half, while scoring seven more of their own.

“We attacked for maybe 20 seconds in the first half,” captain Fielding Kidd ’11 said. “When you’re on defense for 30 or 40 minutes straight it’s really tough.”

She pointed to lopsided ball possession as the key to her team’s loss. BC won 10 of the 12 draws in the first half.

Caroline Crow ’12 agreed with Kidd, saying that Boston College’s dominance of the draws was key, but she added that Yale improved in the second frame, winning half of the draws.

“We really turned it around in the second half, I think we won the draw controls,” Crow said. “We didn’t give up.”

Kidd credited Kaitlyn Flatley ’11, who came off the bench to win two draws. Crow agreed that Flatley had played with a lot of heart but added that in the second half the entire team played with an intensity that had been missing in the first half.

“[In the] second half, we recognized that the only reason why the score was the way it was was that we simply didn’t have the ball,” Kidd said. “In the locker room we made the draw our No. 1 priority.”

Yale went on a 4-2 run at the beginning of the second half as Meghan Murray ’14 and Devon Rhodes ’13 scored a goal apiece. Crow scored twice.

Goalie Whitney Quackenbush ’12 agreed that the team’s offense came together in the second half, but noted that Boston College’s attack was a problem for them for most of the game.

Rhodes, one of the goal scorers, said that BC’s offense played unusually well during the game, making it hard for the Yale defense to contain the Eagles.

“Even though our defense played with a lot of heart, especially in the first half where they were active on defense for 30 straight minutes, the second half saw a much better effort from our team collectively,” Rhodes said.

Yale was shut out for the last 10 minutes as BC scored an additional five goals. But Crow said that the late slump was not a result of a lack of intensity.

Because there is no shot clock in lacrosse, one team can stall with the ball, passing it around on their end of the field for as long as they want. Yale’s midfielders had to put pressure on the Boston College defenders, which made them vulnerable to a counterattack, Crow said.

“They were stalling near the end of the game,” Crow said. “We had to take a lot of risks.”

Kidd said today was especially disappointing since Yale had matched up well against BC when they scrimmaged them in the fall.

“No one really walked off that field thinking that they played their absolute best,” she said.

Rhodes said that even though it was a rough loss, the second half had positives that they could take with them in their next game against Dartmouth.

The game against the Big Green is slated to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Reese Stadium.

M. LACROSSE | Yale weathers Red Storm

February 28, 2011 2:06 am Leave a Comment

The regular season opener for the No. 18 Yale men’s lacrosse team started off in the best possible way. Going into halftime the visiting Bulldogs (1–0) held a commanding six-goal lead, pelting St. John’s Red Storm goalie Jeff Lowman with 17 shots on goal and beating their opponents to nearly every ground ball. But the Red Storm dominated the second half, coming within a single goal of Yale with just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Yet the Bulldogs’ defense stifled the home team’s attack from then on and a goal by Mark Dobrosky ’12 sealed the deal on a 10–8 victory and the first tally in the Elis’ win column.

Nearly-perfect clears and narrow advantages on ground balls and face-offs made the difference in what evolved into a heated match. But players said a failure to capitalize on man-up opportunities and a few too many turnovers in the midfield leave room for improvement as the Bulldogs prepare for home games this week against unranked Presbyterian and Mercer.

“It’s nice to come out of St. Johns 1–0,” midfielder Colin Still ’12 said. “But we’re going to need some good, hard practices starting tomorrow to prepare us for the two games on Thursday and Friday.”

Going into Saturday, Yale had defeated St. John’s in all five meetings, with the last game dating back to 1993. The 17-year hiatus seemed to matter little, as the Yale attack picked up where it left off, scoring just over four minutes in on an unassisted effort by Brian Douglass ’11. The offense didn’t let up, with three goals coming from the Bulldogs’ midfield, before St. John’s freshman Kevin Cernuto put one past Yale goalie John Falcone ’11. A fast strike by 2010 All-American attackman Matt Gibson ’12 silenced the Red Storm bench 20 seconds after Cernuto’s goal, capping the first quarter with a 5–1 Yale advantage.

While the Bulldogs failed to put as many points on the board during the second quarter, the Yale defense suffocated the St. John’s attack, allowing just one shot on goal, which was easily handled by John Falcone ’11. As Still and Douglass netted their second goals of the game, the visitors entered the locker room confidently with a 7–1 advantage. For the first 30 minutes, the Bulldogs out-hustled and out-toughed the Red Storm, snagging 15 out of 21 ground balls and winning eight of 10 face-offs. But a very different St. John’s team stepped on the field in the second half, reversing anemic first-half efforts by the Red Storm attack and face-off man and putting pressure on veteran Yale players to keep the Blue composed.

The third quarter was hard-fought, with St. John’s closing the gap to five goals, thanks to two scores by freshman attackman Kieran McArdle. After Douglass completed a hat-trick with a man-up goal at 12:17 in the fourth, the St. John’s offense dominated for the next 10 minutes, berating the Bulldog defense with five unanswered goals.

“As St. John’s was making their comeback we tried to focus on the process that made us successful earlier in the game,” Falcone said.

Under the leadership of captain and longstick midfielder Patrick Coleman ’11, the Bulldogs applied additional pressure on the Red Storm middies, while forcing crucial turnovers with great teamwork in close defense. With Yale winning 9–8 with just over three minutes left in the game, the Yale defense forced a turnover with a strong double team and defenseman Phil Gross ’13 beat the St. John’s attack to a loose ball to lead the Bulldogs into the offensive end. Careful not to give the Red Storm any more opportunities, the Yale attack controlled the ball in the St. John’s end, with Dobrosky’s goal off a Ryan McCarthy ’14 feed demolishing the home team’s momentum with 1:13 left on the clock.

“We knew going into the game that they were a very fast, dangerous team,” Still said. “Our coaches do a great job of preparing us for each opponent that we play, and coach Shay told us every day last week that this one was going to come down to the wire.”

Yale fans will have their first chance to see the Bulldogs play a regular season match at Reese Stadium this week with home games against Presbyterian on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Mercer on Friday at 7:00 p.m.

Yale Daily News

Tag Archive: Lacrosse

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