Yale Hosts UMass Friday Night
BULLDOGS GET VOTES IN USILA POLL
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale men’s
lacrosse team opened the 2010 season with a win over Holy Cross at
home. The Bulldogs, who received votes in the latest USILA national
poll, get a true non-league test this Friday night at 7 when No. 12
ranked UMass comes to Reese Stadium looking to stay perfect in its
first three outings.
SERIES
The Minutemen own an 18-6 lead in the series against Yale, though
the Elis have won two of the last three. Four of the six Bulldog
wins have come at New Haven.
LAST MEETING
UMass got a career-high seven goals from Jim Connolly and 14 saves
from Doc Schneider in an 18-6 win over Yale last February at Garber
Field. Tim Balise added four goals and an assist. Six different
Bulldogs hit the net and Andrew Brown stopped 11 shots in the Yale
goal.
YALE OPENS WITH W
Matt Gibson had four goals and two assists and Brian Douglass had
three tallies and one assist as Yale beat Holy Cross 14-7 at Reese
Stadium last weekend. The Blue had the advantage in almost every
statistical category, including shots (40-32) and ground balls
(35-25) while dominating on face-offs by winning 16 of 24. Jonathan
Falcone made 10 saves, including a flurry of stops at the end of
the game. Max Rodman, in his first game as Yale's top face-off man,
had six ground balls while having the upper hand on three different
Crusaders on draws. Brendan Gibson added three goals for the home
team, while Matt Miller, Colin Still, Michael McCormack and Kirby
Zdrill also found the back of the net for the Blue.
MINUTEMEN
UMass, which got snowed out of last weekend’s trip to Ohio
State, opened the season with a 15-10 won over Sacred Heart before
unloading on Hartford, 20-10. The Amherst boys lead the nation in
total goals. The offense has been headed up a pair of midfielders
in senior captain Bobby Hayes (7-2-9) and junior Ryan Hantverk
(6-3-9). Fellow middie Anthony Biscardi (4-4-8) and attackman Art
Kell (5-2-7) are also among the leaders while Feb. 22 CAA Rookie of
the Week Will Manny leads the team with five assists.
IVY POWER
Four Ivy League teams are among the 20 in the latest USILA
national rankings: Princeton is No. 7, Cornell is 8, Harvard is 15
and Brown is 19. The Ivy League, which will have its first-ever
post-season tournament in May, and the ACC have the most (4) teams
in the national rankings. The Big East and Colonial are next with
three each.
MASS CONNECTION
Yale head coach Andy Shay is in his seventh season and brings a
36-45 overall record into Friday’s contest. Shay, a two-time
captain at LeMoyne College, was part of two UMass NCAA
Quarterfinals teams as an assistant coach before coming to Yale.
Shay worked for Greg Cannella, who is in his 16th year as the
Minutemen’s head coach. Cannella (133-84) has taken his squad
to seven NCAA tournaments and has seven wins from those
appearances.
REESE RENOVATIONS
The renovation of Reese Stadium, scheduled for completion this
summer, will provide a state-of –the-art facility for both
Yale lacrosse and soccer teams. The renovations include increased
stadium seating, an entry plaza, team rooms and a press box. Recent
improvements included a FieldTurf surface and improved lighting.
Reese Stadium, formerly known as the Yale Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium,
is named after former lacrosse players Jason Reese '87 and Jon
Reese '90.
BULLDOG BITES
Five Yale opponents are among the USILA Division I ranked
teams… The UMass game is the first of two home night games
for the Blue this season; the other is April 24 vs. Bryant…
Yale’s only night road game is April 13 at Providence.
BIG AND TALL
Six-foot-five freshman middie Bryan Walker is the tallest
Eli…The heaviest Bulldogs are sophomore defenseman Michael
Sweeney and Walker, both 220 pounds. Defenseman Brett Newgaard of
UMass will be the biggest player on the field at 6-foot-6, 230
pounds.
OH CANADA
The first two Bulldogs recruited from Canada exclusively for
lacrosse are newcomers Kirby Zdrill and Deron Dempster…
There are no Canadians on the UMass roster.
ROSTER SPREAD
The Yale roster includes players from 17 states and two provinces.
The most are from New York (9), New Jersey (5) and Pennsylvania
(4). None of the 11 members of the class of 2013 hail from the same
state or province.
NEILA
The Elis are ranked fifth behind UMass, Harvard, Brown and
Dartmouth in the lastest NEILA poll.
release filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
image by Don Clark