Graphic by Zully Arias

Yale boasts 35 varsity athletic teams, and the News covers every one. Enjoy archived coverage from a busy 2019–20 school year.

SAILING: Bulldogs dominate across Eastern seaboard

September 24, 2019

Yale’s sailors scattered across the Eastern seaboard this past weekend, as both the women’s and coed cohorts raced in a total of five regattas and swept the competition in two.

Beautiful weather met the Bulldogs across all venues, though an initial lack of wind delayed some races on Saturday and ended some regattas early on Sunday. At Brown, the Elis took first at the Sherman Hoyt Trophy while they came in a close second for the Hood Trophy at Tufts. At home, the Bulldogs dominated the Yale Invite, and while a younger cohort of Elis had rougher results at URI’s Salt Pond Invite, the women’s team sailed to second place at the Mrs. Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth.

“As we progress into the season, the depth of skill in our team is becoming increasingly visible, with strong finishes across a number of regattas in the Northeast,” Dylan DiMarchi ’20 said. “This depth makes the team improve exponentially faster, as practices now feel more like competitive regattas.”

MEN’S GOLF: Elis take third at Macdonald Cup

October 3, 2019

At a home tournament at The Course at Yale this past weekend, the Yale men’s golf team finished third behind Minnesota and Ivy nemesis Princeton University.

On Saturday and Sunday, Yale hosted the Macdonald Cup and entertained nearly a dozen other squads. Yale faced off against defending Ivy champion Princeton, Harvard, Penn and Brown, and the Elis ultimately finished six shots behind the Tigers.

“Most of playing in our home tournament, I would say, is beneficial,” captain Teddy Zinsner ’21 said. “It’s nice to be able to not travel and be able to stay on campus. It also definitely gives the benefit of playing your home course, which we all know better than everybody else, whereas when we travel it’s sometimes tough to adjust. That being said, it was a very short week of practice, getting back from the weekday tournament on Tuesday night. Tough to catch up on work and get ready for the weekend tournament at the same time.”

WOMEN’S TENNIS: Gong, Martinelli capture ITA All-American Championship

October 14, 2019

As the ITA All-American Championships commenced last week in Tulsa, few could have predicted that the eventual champions would hail from New Haven.

Jessie Gong ’22 and Samantha Martinelli ’21 departed from Yale last week as an unseeded duo, but they wore their underdog label with pride as they captured the first title of such magnitude not only in Yale women’s tennis history, but also in the history of the Ivy League.

The ITA All-American Championship is a premier trophy in Division I tennis, and it has evaded Yale for its tennis program’s entire history. But there is always a first for everything, and Gong and Martinelli set that precedent.

“In Division I college tennis, there are three national championships,” head coach Danielle McNamara said. “This is the first one. The second one is in November. And the last one is NCAAs. This is the first All-American championship in women’s singles or doubles in the history of the tournament from the Ivy League… so this is a very historic win.”

FIELD HOCKEY: Elis close out season with win against Brown

November 11, 2019

The Yale field hockey team capped off its 2019 season with a resounding 4–1 victory against Ivy foe Brown.

Coming off a perfect two-win weekend, the Bulldogs (7–10, 3–4 Ivy) showed no signs of slowing down as they jumped out to an early lead against the Bears (5–12, 1–6). The Elis netted two first-half goals, sending them into the break with a 2–0 lead. Early in the fourth quarter, the Bears fought back with a goal of their own, narrowing the margin to just one. Forward Anissa Abboud ’21, however, had other ideas. Abboud tallied two goals in two minutes to seal the Bulldogs’ fifth win in six games.

Yale’s 4–1 victory was a triumphant end to what was, at times, a frustrating season. The Elis challenged themselves early in the season with matchups against the nation’s top programs, such as current No. 4 Virginia and then No. 16 Liberty. Although the Bulldogs only recorded two wins in their first 11 games, their early-season challenges proved critical to their success later on in the campaign. The Elis finished the year on a dominant run, winning five of their last six.

“The seniors are such a big part of the team and the program overall,” forward Josie Jahng ’23 said. “Their experience, determination and strength proved crucial in keeping the team together and lifting us up during all points of the season — both at our highest moments and our lowest.”

FENCING: Yale grabs three wins in Happy Valley

January 14, 2020

Facing tough competition at Penn State, both Bulldog fencing teams managed to secure three wins to start the new year.

After reporting early for training, Yale’s fencing teams headed off to the home of the Nittany Lions last Sunday for a full day of competitions. The women’s team went 3–3, emerging triumphant from bouts against Haverford, North Carolina and Temple while falling to Duke, Penn and host Penn State. The men’s squad defeated Haverford, North Carolina and Penn but lost to Duke and the Nittany Lions. The last match against Columbia for both Eli teams was canceled due to insufficient time.

“I think this tournament was more difficult than the other meets we had,” foilist Emme Zhou ’23 said. “Not only were we just coming off of a tough week of winter training and getting back in shape after the holidays, the trip to Penn State is also such a long bus ride… I am looking forward to facing some schools again at Ivies this year, such as Penn. I think it will be a close draw, but I have confidence in our team to pull through and fence well together. Although we have trained hard together, I think if we push ourselves a little more we can definitely create history this season.”

WOMEN’S SQUASH: With victories over Trinity, Stanford and George Washington, Elis extend winning streak

January 29, 2020

After its only loss of the season against No. 9 Columbia (8–4, 3–1 Ivy), the Yale women’s squash team has come back with a vengeance, dispatching with ease three opponents in the top 15, including two in the top six.

The squad’s first opponent after a 10-day hiatus was the formidable No. 3 Trinity (11–1, 0–0 NESCAC team, a perennial contender for the College Squash Association women’s title. In a hard-fought contest, the Bulldogs overcame their foe in a 5–4 victory, handing Trinity its only loss so far this season. Captain Lucy Beecroft ’20 led the charge with a powerful four-set win, with much of the team’s success coming from its depth. No. 7 Riya Mital ’21 and No. 8 Alexis Lazor ’21 sealed their matches in three sets.

Against No. 6 Stanford (5–5, 0–0 Pac), Yale furthered its success, with the team’s 10th win against the Cardinal in 14 tries since 2011. Three of the team members swept their matches, leading to a final score of 6–3. Against No. 14 GW (4–11, 0–0 Atlantic 10), Yale completed its most assertive win of the season. The Bulldogs completed a 9–0 shutout and only allowed five of the matches to extend beyond three sets.

GYMNASTICS: Yale wins Don Tonry Invitational 

February 2, 2020

The Yale gymnastics team achieved its highest score of the season so far, a strong 194.150, to clinch the Don Tonry Invitational title on Saturday.

In the sixth edition of the tri-meet, which was created to honor Yale gymnastics legend Don Tonry, the Bulldogs expertly navigated past the challenges posed by Bridgeport (193.150) and Southern Connecticut State University (190.525) to the delight of the home crowd.

After defeating Rhode Island College the previous weekend, it was crucial for the Elis to continue their momentum and score three wins from four meets. Not only did they do just that, the Blue and White produced a new season high for the second consecutive week with the score of 194.150.

“It was a great feeling to win,” Kendal Toy ’22 said. “This meet is dedicated to our coach’s husband in honor of him starting gymnastics here at Yale, so being able to win the meet for her and in front of the alumni was an amazing feeling.”

WOMEN’S GOLF: Gianchandani still on fire at FAU Winter Warmup

February 12, 2020

The new year brings the same winning ways for golfer Ami Gianchandani ’22. The sophomore sensation, who is ranked as the 99th best NCAA Division I women’s player by Golfstat, won the FAU Winter Warmup and helped lead the Yale women’s golf team to a third-place finish.

The tournament was played on Monday and Tuesday at the Osprey Point Golf Club in Boca Raton, hosted by Florida Atlantic University. This was the second time this season that the Elis played a demanding three rounds over two days — the first being the Bulldogs’ last competition of the fall semester in October. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs posted a team score of 284 on Tuesday, tied with competition winners Arkansas State for the best single-round mark. This great effort helped the Bulldogs finish just 11 shots behind the Red Wolves.

“It feels great to be able to win the first tournament of the season,” Gianchandani said. “It is reassuring that all the hard work in the offseason is paying off… We had a few days of practice outside so far which helped me prepare for this tournament. Florida courses have a lot of hazards so the key was keeping the ball in the fairway all day. It was some of the windiest conditions I played in so most of my targets were big and conservative. I wanted to stay calm and focused the whole day today.”

MEN’S SQUASH: Bulldogs finish seventh in the nation

March 4, 2020

After a strong regular season performance that culminated in a No. 6 ranking, the Yale men’s squash team was bounced out early with a loss to No. 3 Penn in the first round of the College Squash Association National Team Championships.

This result was a repeat of the two teams’ meeting in February, when Yale faltered and ended without achieving a win in a single match. The Bulldogs’ postseason showing means the Yale men finish seventh in the nation.

This weekend, Tufts, MIT and Harvard all opened their courts to host the top teams in men’s college squash. The top eight teams competed in the Potter Cup division, the winner of which was crowned the national champion. The Bulldogs (9–8, 4–3 Ivy) led a 9–6 regular season campaign before the tournament, but struggled against their toughest opponents as the squad ultimately exited the playoffs winless.

MEN’S TENNIS: Elis to go toe-to-toe with NJIT, Brown

March 5, 2020

The Yale men’s tennis team heads into yet another weekend of matches, looking to build off of a strong win against Navy last Saturday.

Yale faces solely nonconference foes until the end of this month, when the Ivy season begins. Yale (3–6, 0–0 Ivy) took on Old Dominion (10–2, 0–0 C-USA), Navy (13–5, 0–0 Patriot League) and Western Michigan (11–5, 1–0 MAC) last weekend and have two more matches coming up Saturday. The Bulldogs take on NJIT (1–6, 0–0 ASUN) and Fairfield (5–3, 1–0 MAAC) in a weekend double-header. Yale is looking to turn the season around with two huge victories for the team’s momentum and morale.

“We’re looking forward to the double-header on Saturday before we head out to California for some outdoor matches,” co-captain Dylan King ’20 said. “After a busy schedule of matches with a short-handed team last weekend, our main focus right now is getting guys healthy and at full strength for the second half of the season.”