Box Score Hat Trick for Avallone; Bulldogs Still in Contention for Ivy Tourney Spot
PHILADELPHIA - The top two defenses in the Ivy League met Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field, and in the end No. 11 Penn was able to break open a game that was 5-3 at halftime to beat Yale 13-7. That was the most goals Yale had allowed since allowing 15 to Cornell Mar. 7, a span of eight games. Senior midfielder Cathryn Avallone had a hat trick to lead the Bulldog attack.
In addition to pitting the league's top two defenses against each other, this game also pitted Yale sophomore defender Emily Markham against her sister, Penn defender Meg Markham, for the second time of their careers. The Bulldogs had come close to knocking off the Quakers last year but fell 11-9 at Reese Stadium.
After battling snow and cold for the majority of the season, the Bulldogs were greeted by bright sunshine and temperatures near 80 degrees in the city of Brotherly Love Saturday. But they were also greeted by a Penn team eager to get back in the win column after suffering a 9-7 loss to No. 13 Princeton Wednesday night. That loss knocked the Quakers out of first place, and left them in need of help from at least one of Princeton's final two opponents in order to claim a possible ninth straight Ivy League title.
Yale senior goalkeeper Erin Mullins made a pair of saves in the first 6:15, but a free position attempt enabled the Quakers to take a 1-0 lead at 8:10. Off the restart, attacker Catherine Dickinson fed midfielder Lindsey Smith cutting in front for the goal.
Yale (6-8, 2-4 Ivy League) answered immediately, getting the draw control (senior midfielder Christina Doherty) and scoring. Senior midfielder Cathryn Avallone set up freshman midfielder Maggie Pizzo for a goal that tied the game just 19 seconds after the Penn goal.
The Bulldogs scored again two minutes later, as senior attacker Erin Magnuson evaded a double team and Yale eventually worked the ball over to Avallone. She drove in from the left side and put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1 at 19:27.
The first half was marked by a total of six yellow cards -- three on Penn and three on Yale -- including one on Quaker defender Megan Kelly at 17:39. Right after Penn killed that one off, Dickinson scored to tie the game 2-2.
With Yale killing off a yellow card, Penn midfielder Shannon Mangini got a free position shot with 13:07 left but the shot was partially blocked and Mullins scooped up the loose ball. Shortly after that, though, Mullins was attempting to clear the ball when pressure from Penn forced her into a violation for going back into the crease. That gave midfielder Nina Corcoran a free position from the right hash, and she drove in to score the go-ahead goal at 12:31.
Yale called timeout after that goal, and junior defender Kate Walker ended a Penn possession shortly after that by batting down a Quaker pass near the Yale goal and feeding the loose ball to Mullins.
Another yellow on the Bulldogs gave Penn the chance to score again at 8:55, as Mangini scored her first goal of the season. The 2013 Ivy League Midfielder of the Year, she had been limited to just six games so far this season and missed all of last season due to injury.
Trailing 4-2, senior attacker Kerri Fleishhacker provided the Bulldogs with a spark by driving into the middle of the 8-meter arc and firing a shot through traffic that eluded Penn goalie Lucy Ferguson to get Yale within 4-3 at 7:10.
Penn (11-3, 5-1 Ivy League) got a free position goal from attacker Tory Bensen at 6:34, and that wound up being the final goal of the half. Mullins stopped a Bensen shot with two minutes left, and a long-distance attempt by Fleishhacker as time expired was stopped by Ferguson to keep the score 5-3 heading into the second.
The Quakers extended the lead to 6-3 on a goal 57 seconds into the second half, but the Bulldogs stayed within striking distance by responding. Doherty reached high to grab a loose ball in front of the Penn goal to keep Yale's next possession alive, and that play paid dividends shortly after that. Junior attacker Nicole Daniggelis took a feed from Fleishhacker in front of the net, spun around, and delivered a goal to bring Yale within 6-4 with 24:16 left.
But the Quakers got the draw control, possessed the ball, and then scored on their next shot -- by midfielder Lely DeSimone at 22:47. They then got another goal two minutes later to make the score 8-4.
Yale caught a tough break when a shot by Avallone hit the right post with 20 minutes left, and the shot ricocheted all the way out to a Penn player at the restraining line. The Quakers eventually got a goal from Bensen, her 43rd of the season, at 17:28.
Shortly after attacker Sarah Barcia put Penn up 10-4, Ferguson made one of her best saves of the day by getting her stick across to deflect a way a shot from a hard-charging Fleishhacker with 16:30 to play. A minute later she made a save on Daniggelis and the Quakers took possession.
Avallone drove in for her second goal of the game to end the Yale scoring drought with 12:34 to play. The Bulldogs had gone nearly 12 minutes without a goal prior to that.
After Mullins denied a free position shot with 10:30 left, Penn got another goal from Barcia with 10:04 left to make the score 11-5. Avallone finished her hat trick by scoring with 3:23 to play, but the Quakers added two more in the final 2:37 to put the game well out of reach. Pizzo scored with 27 seconds left for the 13-7 final.
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs still enter the final weekend of Ivy League play in control of their own destiny for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament -- which determines the recipient of the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Harvard's 10-9 loss at Cornell earlier in the day set up next Saturday's Yale-Harvard game in Cambridge as the one that will decide the final participant in the Ivy League Tournament (Cornell, Penn and Princeton have all clinched spots). Yale trails the fourth-place Crimson by one game in the Ivy League standings, but if the Bulldogs beat the Crimson they will have the tiebreaker and would earn the fourth seed in the Ivy Tournament.
Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity
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