NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A day after opening the season with a 2-1 overtime win against Sacred Heart, the Yale field hockey team got off to a tough start on Sunday afternoon at Quinnipiac. The Bobcats scored twice in the game's first 24 minutes, and that eventually proved enough to hand the Bulldogs their first defeat of the season. Sophomore forward/midfielder Carol Middough scored the lone Yale goal in the 2-1 loss.

Quinnipiac (1-3, 0-0 MAAC) scored first on a tip in front of the net at 13:02 by forward Savanna Reilly, who happens to be the granddaughter of former long-time Yale Athletics equipment manager Ed Maturo. The Bobcats extended the lead to 2-0 on a penalty corner goal at 23:55 by midfielder Angie King.

The Bulldogs had an apparent goal waved off near the end of the first half, as Middough's shot was ruled to have been from outside the circle and touched by a Yale foot inside the circle.

Yale (1-1, 0-0 Ivy League) thus went into halftime down 2-0, having been outshot 12-6. The second half would be dramatically different, and Middough's goal off an assist by senior midfielder Nicole Wells 52 seconds in helped set the tone.

"The team reacted positively to what we talked about at halftime," said Pam Stuper, Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey. "We made the adjustments we needed to make; we got the ball to our midfielders and worked the outside."

After earning just two penalty corners in the first half, Yale earned seven in the second -- including five in a span of roughly three minutes. But during that span Quinnipiac goalie Megan Conaboy stopped all three shots she saw, including two by Middough and one by sophomore back Kiwi Comizio. Yale also had a shot by senior back Noelle Villa that was blocked.

"Conaboy has done a great job for them in goal," said Stuper. "She makes it hard."

The Bulldogs got two more penalty corners in the waning minutes of the game, but a shot by Middough was stopped by QU defender Lily Shemo and on the final penalty corner Yale could not get a shot off.

Conaboy finished with 10 saves, while junior goalie Emilie Katz made five saves for Yale. Wells had a defensive save for the Bulldogs early in the second half.

"The second half was a tribute to our team," said Stuper. "But those 35 minutes were not enough. We didn't capitalize on our opportunities."

Yale next travels to Washington, D.C., to play American next Saturday.

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