Box Score Six Saves for Mullins
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale women's lacrosse team went head-to-head with the best defense in the nation Wednesday afternoon at Reese Stadium, and very nearly beat the UMass Minutewomen at their own game. The Bulldog defense had 11 caused turnovers -- just one less than UMass, which entered the day averaging more CTs than any other school in the country (14 per game) -- and senior goalkeeper Erin Mullins had six saves as Yale hung with the unbeaten Minutewomen for most of the day. Ultimately, though, a 3-0 run by UMass in the final 15:11 helped finish off a 9-3 Minutewomen win. Senior midfielder Christina Doherty, senior attacker Kerri Fleishhacker and senior attacker Erin Magnuson scored Yale's goals.
UMass (7-0, 0-0 Atlantic 10) scored just 36 seconds into the game and led 3-1 after the first eight minutes, but after that both defenses stepped up. Minutewomen goalkeeper Rachel Vallarelli -- who entered the game third in the nation with a .600 save percentage -- made two of her best stops in one sequence with 21 minutes left in the first, denying a shot by Fleishhacker and then stopping an attempt on the rebound from point-blank range by sophomore attacker Hope Hanley.
A stretch of more than 13 minutes without any goals ended when midfielder Hannah Murphy scored to make it 4-1 UMass, and more than eight minutes passed before either team scored again. Doherty took a feed from Magnuson and fired in her ninth goal of the season to pull Yale within 4-2 10 seconds before halftime.
UMass scored the first two goals of the second half, but Yale (3-3, 0-1 Ivy League) remained within striking distance after Magnuson scored from right in front of the goal off a feed from Doherty. The Bulldogs then got the ball back as junior midfielder Kelly Anne Sherlock won the draw control, but a costly turnover -- one of 21 for the game for Yale -- gave the ball back to the Minutewomen.
UMass worked some clock off before getting a goal from midfielder Sarah Crowley with 12:47 to play, and just 18 seconds later a goal by attacker Erika Eipp made the score 8-3. The Bulldogs called timeout, but UMass won the draw control and was able to keep Yale's offensive threats to a minimum for the final 12 minutes. Eipp scored again with 9:49 to play for the 9-3 final.
This marked the fifth time in seven games UMass held its opponents to four or fewer goals.
One of the bright spots for Yale was the draw control battle, where the Bulldogs had an 8-6 advantage -- thanks largely to four DCs for junior attacker Nicole Daniggelis. Sophomore defender Victoria Moore contributed a game-high four caused turnovers.
Yale starts a stretch of three straight road games with a visit to Ivy League rival Brown Saturday at noon. The Bulldogs then travel to Denver.
Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity
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