March 31, 2004

Final Stats| Photo Gallery

New Haven, CT - Twelve different players scored goals as No. 14 Yale beat Fairfield 25-3 in women's lacrosse action at a rain-soaked Johnson Field on Wednesday afternoon. The Bulldogs (5-3) tied the school mark for goals in a game, set in the 1981 season opener (25-2 over Hofstra). They outshot the Stags (1-6) 55-4.

Katie Sargent started the scoring for Yale just 24 seconds into the game. The Bulldogs added two more goals before Beth Loffredo scored the first of her three goals for the Stags at 22:10. Loffredo's second goal, at 18:26, trimmed Yale's lead to 4-2. Yale then reeled off 12 straight goals to reach 16 before halftime, including three each from Sargent, Sarah Driscoll and Lindsay Levin. Sophie Melniker, Marya Myers and Miles Whitman each had two, while Aly Croffy added one.

"Miles saw the field really well," head coach Amanda O'Leary noted. "Lindsay Levin played a tremendous game. Sophie Melniker continues to consistently come up with the ball and finish."

Casey Littlefield came on in relief of Lonnie Sarnell in goal for Yale after the first half, and subs Lara Melniker (3), Carli Vogler (3), Sarah Scalia (1), Tiffany Venuto (1) and Jennifer Voorhees (1) accounted for all nine Yale goals in the second half. Melniker and Vogler each had two assists for a team-high five points.

The game wound up representing Yale's most balanced scoring effort yet. Six players who had not scored in the team's first seven games -- Levin, Lara Melniker, Myers, Scalia, Venuto and Voorhees -- got goals. It was also the first career goal for five of them (all except Voorhees).

"It was a great team effort," said O'Leary. "Everybody on the team practices just as hard as everybody else, and today we were able to reap the benefits of that. We maintained our momentum throughout the game."

Yale hosts Harvard at Johnson Field on Saturday at 1:00.

report by Sam Rubin '95, Yale Sports Publicity Department