NEW HAVEN, Conn. – It did not take long for the Yale field hockey team to find out what a difference having sophomore forward/midfielder Carol Middough healthy at the start of the season can make. Middough scored both Bulldog goals -- including the game-winner with 5:04 left in overtime -- to help Yale to a 2-1 win over Sacred Heart in the season opener Saturday at Johnson Field.

A year ago at this time Middough was sidelined; she wound up missing the first four games, and Yale won just one of them. Limited by her early setback, Middough still managed to finish second on the team in goals for the season with four. The potential for her to have an even greater impact this year was obvious Saturday, though, as she started the Bulldogs off with the lead 9:19 in by scoring off an assist by sophomore midfielder/forward Katie Smith. Middough wound up taking eight shots for the game, helping Yale to a 22-13 shot advantage. Last season Yale had 22 or more shots in a game just twice.

Yale (1-0) had one costly defensive breakdown, and Sacred Heart (1-2) took advantage of it. A Bulldog turnover in the Yale zone enabled the Pioneers to get forward Danielle Gallagher one-on-one with Yale junior goalie Emilie Katz, and Gallagher deposited her first goal of the year to tie the game 1-1 at 43:45.

That would be the only blemish on the day for Katz, who made eight saves in her first career start.

The Bulldogs had a chance to win the game in regulation on a penalty corner as time expired, but sent a shot wide.

A turnover by Yale a minute into overtime nearly proved costly, but effective defense from senior back Noelle Villa disrupted the Pioneers before they could get the ball out of the midfield.

Sacred Heart goalie Mary Altepeter made a save on a Yale corner with 13 minutes left in overtime, one of 11 saves on the day for her. But Middough finally put the game away by cutting across the front of the goal from the left side to the right, then firing the game-winner in at the 79:56 mark.

"It's no surprise that you would look to Carol to score goals for us, given her outstanding high school career [Middough scored 78 goals in her senior year, the third-most nationally in the history of high school field hockey]," said Pam Stuper, Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey. "It's what she's capable of."

While the humidity that blanketed New Haven for the last several days had dissipated by the time Saturday's game started, the temperature was still high and there was no cloud cover at Johnson Field. That added to the degree of difficulty as the two teams went back-and-forth for nearly 80 minutes.

"Near the end of the second half that battle started, as we were under some fatigue," said Stuper. "We got frantic, but after about eight or 10 minutes we got out of that. We started possessing the ball again, and creating opportunities in the circle."

The Bulldogs had some veteran leadership to draw from -- the team's seniors, Villa and midfielder Nicole Wells, have now combined for 103 career games played and 86 career starts. But overall the roster is heavily weighted towards underclassmen. That includes a freshman class of seven, the Bulldogs' largest freshmen class in 12 years. Six of them saw playing time on Saturday, with three earning starts: back Jackie Kisa, midfielder/back Marissa Medici and forward/midfielder Evagelia Toffoloni.

"The freshmen handled themselves very well, whether they were starting or coming off the bench," said Stuper. "They really have a lot on their plate right now, but they played to their strengths. The upperclassmen have also done a good job helping them acclimate to Yale."

The Bulldogs also added an interesting footnote to the game as three different sets of sisters -- a total of seven sisters -- saw playing time. Katz had her sister, junior midfielder/back Steffi Katz, helping her out with some key defensive plays. Smith and her identical twin, Lily Smith (also a sophomore midfielder/forward), continued to provide sparks on attack as they have done for more than a year now. And Toffoloni made her Yale debut along with her fraternal twin Katerina Toffoloni (also a freshman forward/midfielder) and their younger sister Nikoletta Toffoloni (a freshman back).

Up next for the Bulldogs is a trip to Quinnipiac for a 2:00 p.m. game Sunday.

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