No. 13 Bulldogs Have Shot at League Title,
Tourney
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The 9-3 and No. 13 ranked
Yale men's lacrosse team (3-2 Ivy), winners of five of the last
six, close the 2010 regular season by hosting archrival Harvard
(6-5, 2-3) at Reese Stadium Saturday at 1 p.m. in a game that
carries league title as well as post-season implications for both
teams.
AT STAKE FOR BLUE
With a win Saturday and help from Cornell, Yale, which has yet
to clinch a post-season berth, could have a share of the league
title. Princeton, 4-1 in Ivy play, has already clinched at least a
share of the crown but could lose the tournament's No. 1 seed by
falling to the Big Red (3-2) Saturday at New Jersey. So while the
Elis have hopes for a piece of their first Ivy crown since 1990,
just making the inaugural Ivy Tournament would be a much-welcomed
consolation.
REST OF THE IVY PICTURE
Both Brown (3-2), which could also share the title, Harvard
(2-3) and Dartmouth (2-3) are in the Ivy tourney (top 4) mix. The
Bears and Big Green meet Saturday. Only Penn (1-5) has been
eliminated from post-season opportunities.
LAST YEAR
Joe Pike made 11 saves and Jeff Cohen tallied five goals to
guide No. 19 Harvard to a 13-8 victory before 3,023 fans at Harvard
Stadium. Matt
Gibson, Gregory
Mahony and Michael Karwoski each hit the net twice for Yale. On
the other side, Jason Duboe contributed two goals and three
assists, while Jesse Fehr added two goals.
SERIES
Yale owns a 56-34 series lead over Harvard but the Crimson has
taken five of the last six. The Elis' last win at Reese Stadium was
6-5 in 2002.
DOG-EAT-DOG WORLD
The Bulldogs of Bryant got three goals from Max Weisbenberg and
a strong (12 of 19) performance from face-off man Andy Hennessey
that led to a 9-7 upset of the Elis before 987 at Reese Stadium
last Saturday. Bryant (9-5), which dominated the possessions and
hounded Yale's offense, never trailed in the first meeting of the
two Bulldog squads while ending Yale's win streak at five games.
Yale got a pair of goals from Gregory Mahony and a goal each from
five other players on a night when nothing was clicking for more
than a moment. Both teams had 27 ground balls, though Yale had more
shots (27-23) and fewer turnovers (13-20).
HARVARD
Kevin
Vaughan (15-4-19) tallied three goals and Dean
Gibbons (25 goals) scored twice and added an assist as Harvard
topped No. 6 Princeton 11-8 last Saturday before 2,827 fans on
Senior Day at Harvard Stadium. The Crimson used a 4-2 run in the
second quarter to grab a 6-4 lead, which they never relinquished in
its first victory over the Tigers since 1990, a span of 19 straight
games. The Crimson, which has lost three of its last four, enjoyed
a 31-25 edge in ground balls, while going 16-of-18 on clear
attempts. Alex
White (.554 F.O.), the Ivy League Rookie of the Week, collected
a team-best eight ground balls and won 12-of-21 faceoffs.
Harry Krieger (10.95, .500) finished the game with 13
saves.
SENIOR SALUTE
Six members of the class of 2010 will be honored during a
pre-game ceremony on Saturday. Jerome Arnold, Matt Fuchs, Trent Gause, Brendan Gibson, Max Rodman and Nick Tsouris will be joined
by family to celebrate their careers at Yale.
CELEBRATING THREE-PEAT
Yale's Ivy League Championship teams from 1988, 89 and 90 will
be honored at halftime of this Saturday's Yale-Harvard game. A
large group of players from these teams will be at a Friday night
dinner in the Kenney Center at Yale Bowl before having a pre-game
cookout in parking lot B next to Coxe Cage/Reese Stadium. The three
teams coached by Mike Waldvogel combined for a 38-11 overall mark
and were each 5-1 in Ivy play. That included a 4-0 record against
Princeton and sweeps (3-0) of Cornell. Scott Giese captained the
1988 Eli squad that went 12-4 and made the NCAA Tournament. The
team leader of the 1989 Bulldogs was Keith Joseph, whose squad won
10 of 15 contests. Dean Charpentier, captain of the 1990 Yale team,
led the Bulldogs to a school-best 16-2 record and an NCAA semifinal
appearance.
NINE WINS
Yale's nine wins are the most under head coach Andy Shay and the
most since the 2003 Bulldogs went 9-5 overall. This is the fourth
nine-victory campaign since the Elis enjoyed their best-ever
season, 16-2 in 1990.
RANKING
Yale is 13th this week's laxnews.com poll and No. 17 in the
latest USILA rankings (see below). Yale's No. 13 ranking last week
was its best in the USILA poll since 1992. Here is the latest USILA
poll.
Rank
Team
Record
Points
Prev. Wk
1
Virginia
13-1
195(5)
2
2
Syracuse
11-1
194(5)
1
3
Maryland
9-3
181
5
4
North
Carolina
11-2
164
3
5
Duke
11-4
161
4
6
Loyola
9-2
152
7
7
Princeton
9-3
134
6
8
Stony
Brook
9-3
123
12
9
UMass
8-4
107
16
10
Cornell
8-4
99
8
11
Towson
6-5
88
14
12
Villanova
9-4
87
9
13
Drexel
9-4
83
11
14
Georgetown
7-5
67
10
15
Hofstra
8-4
50
15
16
Denver
10-4
48
20
17
Yale
9-3
34
13
18
Brown
7-5
29
nr
19t
Notre
Dame
7-5
22
nr
19t
Harvard
6-5
22
nr
Also receiving votes: Delaware, Army,
Lafayette, Fairfield, Navy, Johns Hopkins
ELI OFFENSE
Six Yale players have hit double digits in goals. Junior A Brian
Douglass has a team-high 29 and ranks 21st in Division I with
2.42 per game. Sophomore A Matt Gibson (26 goals) leads the Elis
with 44 points and is 17th in the country with 3.67 points per
game. Senior captain Brendan
Gibson has 16-15-31. Sophomore M Gregory Mahony has 17-1-18
after notching two goals vs. Bryant. Classmate Matt
Miller (12-4-16) also reached double-digits.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Junior goalie Johnathan
Falcone has every decision in the Yale net and has a .510 save
percentage. His 8.72 GAA, tops in the Ivy, is 14th in Division I.
He has had double-digit saves in four of the last six games.
Falcone had a season-high of 15 saves at Dartmouth, while he has
held opponents to single-digits in four of the last five
outings.
FACE-OFF
Senior M Max Rodman
is 21st in the country with a .556 face-off mark. He took a
season-high 33 face-offs against Penn, while his low was the next
day with 11 against Detroit. Rookie Cole Yeager
(.632) got an opportunity to take over against Detroit and won nine
of 13.
GROUND BALLS
Junior LSM Patrick
Coleman leads the Blue with 44 pick-ups. Freshman D Michael
McCormack is second with 38. These two defenders have helped
the Bulldogs hold their last three opponents to a combined 17
goals.
STAT RANKINGS
Yale is 14th in faceoffs (.551), 13th in team defense (8.7),
17th in ground balls (33) and 24th in scoring offense (10.5) among
Division I squads.
2010 HONORS
Yale sophomore Matt Gibson was named March 8 co-Ivy League
Player of the Week after an 11-point weekend in a pair of
victories. Gibson led the Elis to a 13-12 win over No. 12 UMass on
March 5 with a career-high 5-3-8. He earned NEILA Player of the
Week on April 11 after five goals in the 8-3 win at Dartmouth.
Junior Brian Douglass got the Ivy nod on April 5 after a 13-goal,
14-point weekend set against Penn and Detroit. Freshman Peter Johnson
was named Ivy Rookie of the Week on April 11 after helping the Blue
hold the Big Green to three goals.
IVY TITLES
Yale has won four Ivy League Championships, including the first
one handed out in 1956. The others came in 1988, 89 and 90.
IVY TOURNAMENT
The first Ivy League tournament is set for May 7-9 and includes
the top four teams. The No. 1 seed will host No. 4, with No. 2 and
No. 3 playing each other at the same venue.
IVY POWER
Five of the seven Ivy League teams are currently listed in the
USILA top 20 poll. Princeton and Cornell are in the top 10. Yale,
Brown and Harvard are in the second half.
ON THE BENCHES
Yale head coach Andy Shay is in his seventh season and brings a
43-48 overall record into Saturday'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.
John Tillman, the former Navy assistant, is now in his third year
as the Frisbie Family Head Coach for Men's Lacrosse at Harvard.
COACH NOTES
Yale assistant Graham Niemi, a former Maryland standout, served
as head coach of Team Finland at the 2009 World
Championships… Andy Shay has coached the Irish National
team… Eli assistant Ryan Polley played basketball and
lacrosse (2nd team All-America) at Merrimack.
CONSISTENCY
Three Yale players have points in every game, Brendan Gibson,
Matt Gibson and Brian Douglass. Douglass has a goal in 11 of 12
games, while Matt Gibson has hit the net in 10 of 12 and Brendan in
nine of 12.
CAPTAIN GIBSON
Brendan Gibson, Yale's senior captain, is more than just a
leader and motivator. The offensive-minded attackman has a point in
34 straight games – the fourth longest active streak in
Division I – dating to March 25, 2008. He has 57-34-91 over
that span. His 93 career goals rank sixth at Yale, while his 137
points are eighth. Gibson's 44 assists rank 18th overall at the
school.
Career Goal Scoring
1. Jon Reese
162 1987-1990
2. Adam Puritz
106 1985-1988
3. Tom Zaccagnino
100 1994-1996
4. Mike Scaglione
95
2000-2003
5. Mike Devlin
94
1979-1982
6. Brendan
Gibson
93
2007-Present
Josh McHugh
93
1989-1992
8. Simon Duxbury
92
1991-1994
9. Ned Britt
90
2001-2004
10. Tom Fagan
89
1970-1972
11. Seth Goldberg
86
2002-2005
12. Ted Moran
84
1983-1986
13. Brian Hunt
78
1999-2001
14. Craig Lunde
74
1985-1988
15. Ken Lenskold
70
1982-1985
16. Brian Walter
68
1988-1991
17. Scott Kenworthy
65
2001-2004
Timothy Bradford
65
1964-1966
19. Chris Clark
64
1984-1987
20. Kim Dunn
63
1988-1991
Daniel Brillman
63
2003-2006
22. Shawn O'Rourke
60
1994-1997
BULLDOG BITES
Yale leads the Ivies with 33 ground balls per game…
Sophomore Mark
Dobrosky's brother, Dave, is a senior on the Harvard
team… The Blue averages 36.9 shots per game… Yale's
five-game win streak was the longest since 2002 under head coach
Mike Waldvogel… Yale has a .781 clear percentage… The
Elis have averaged 800 fans in six home dates at Reese
Stadium… Yale has outscored and outshot opponents in all but
the fourth quarter… The first two Bulldogs recruited from
Canada exclusively for lacrosse are newcomers Kirby Zdrill and
Deron
Dempster… Sophomore midfielder Robby
Berner is a member of the Yale squash team and played in the
No. 6 and 7 slots for the No. 2 team in the country.
NCAAs
The Elis seek their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1992.
Yale has played in the NCAAs three (1988, 90, 92) different seasons
and are 2-3 overall. The best run came in 1990 when the Blue beat
Princeton in the quarters before falling in OT to Loyola at Rutgers
Stadium in the semis.
NEILA
The Bulldogs fell to No. 4 in the New England rankings. They
bounced around from first to fifth since the season began. Here are
the latest NEILA Rankings.
- Massachusetts 8-4
-
Brown
7-5
-
Harvard
6-5
-
Yale
9-3
-
Fairfield
8-4
-
Bryant
9-5
- Dartmouth
5-6
-
Quinnipiac
6-5
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. Sophomore Robby Berner (Greenwich)
is the only Yale player from Connecticut.
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.
HELMET ROSE
Yale is one of a few schools in the country wearing a Rose
sticker on its helmets in honor of Paul Rose, a lacrosse coach at
four different colleges, who passed away on March 27 after a long
battle with cancer.
BULLDOG BONES
filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
