April 18, 2007

Box Score

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - No. 12 Yale broke open a 3-3 game with four straight goals in the first half, then held Brown scoreless for nearly 27 minutes in the second half to finish off a 13-5 win Wednesday afternoon at Stevenson Field. The win, Yale's eighth in a row, moves the Bulldogs' record to 12-3 overall and 5-1 in the Ivy League. Combined with the result of the Penn-Princeton game Wednesday night, it also helped clarify Yale's route to a potential NCAA tournament bid.

The game, Yale's first on natural grass since playing Notre Dame in Wellington, Fla., five weeks earlier, was played in cold, raw conditions and a steady rain that made footing somewhat treacherous. A caused turnover by senior defenseman Lindsay Levin disrupted an early Bears possession and set up Yale's first score a minute in, as junior midfielder Kat Peetz deposited her 26th goal of the year at the other end of the field. Sophomore defenseman Jenn Warden then scored twice within a three-minute span, including one on a free-position shot and one that she bounced past Brown goalkeeper Melissa King.

The Bears' Mimi DeTolla got her team on the board when she scooped up the rebound of a save by junior goalkeeper Ellen Cameron on a free-position shot and shoveled it into the net at 22:37. Goals by Lindsay Glennon and DeTolla then tied the score, and the Bulldogs also saw junior midfielder Lauren Taylor, the country's leading goal scorer, sent to the sideline for three minutes with a yellow card.

Peetz helped spark the offense in Taylor's absence, beating her defender behind the net and rifling a pass to senior attacker Marya Myers in front for the go-ahead goal at 16:53.

Both teams got a scare two minutes later when DeTolla, Brown's leading goal scorer, and junior defenseman Jess Champion collided in mid-air. Both were slow getting up but remained in the game, and shortly after that Taylor made her return felt by delivering her 57th goal of the year.

That extended Taylor's point-scoring streak to 23 games, but it would also be her only point of the day. The Bulldogs found other scoring options, including one right after that goal when sophomore midfielder Taylor Fragapane got the draw control. The Bulldogs worked the ball ahead quickly to freshman attacker Jessica Sturgill for a goal that made it 6-3.

Warden completed the 4-0 run by converting a feed from junior attacker Meredith Callahan at 1:17. A free-position goal by Brown's Callie Lawrence made the score 7-4 at halftime.

Warden scored the first two goals of the second half to give Yale a commanding lead and also establish her personal single-game best in goals with five. When Myers extended the lead to 10-4 with 22:14 to play the Bears called a timeout but could do little to reverse the game's momentum. Warden set up Myers for a shot into the top corner that gave Warden her personal single-game record sixth point. She also has a 20-game point scoring streak.

Sturgill scored again off a Peetz assist and sophomore midfielder Linden Ellis added a goal assisted by senior midfielder Lara Melniker with 5:11 to play that led to mass substitutions by the Bulldogs. Brown's Lauren Vitkus scored with 3:03 left to make the final 13-5.

Brown made 18 of its 27 turnovers in the second half, and the Bulldogs limited the Bears to a 16-for-25 performance on clears. Cameron finished with four saves.

Yale's last eight-game winning streak came in 2001, when the Bulldogs won their first eight games of the season. Wednesday's win leaves Yale in position to tie the school record for wins in a regular season with a victory over Cornell in the regular-season finale Saturday at Johnson Field.

More importantly, the win keeps Yale in contention for an at-large NCAA tournament bid. After beating the Bears the Bulldogs had to do some scoreboard-watching on the bus ride back to New Haven. Penn's 14-10 win over Princeton Wednesday night in Philadelphia leaves the Bulldogs all alone in second place in the Ivy League. While first-place Penn (6-0 Ivy) has clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title and the league's automatic tournament bid, at least one Ivy team has made the tournament as an at-large selection in each of the last nine years. The process for selecting at-large teams is explained here.

Yale hosts Cornell at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity