DOWN 7-1, ELIS COME STORMING BACK

NEW HAVEN, Conn – Tuesday night's showdown between the Yale Bulldogs and the St. John's Red Storm was a tale of two halves. After two quarters, the Bulldogs were uncharacteristically down. Not only were they down, but they were facing one of their largest deficits in recent memory. Down 7-1, the Elis then poured on 12 goals in the second half to secure a 13-8 victory.

The Bulldogs are not unused to giving up the first goal. In the past two games, their opponents have scored first, but the Elis' offense always had a response within a minute. On Tuesday, they were unable to tie the game immediately, and instead St. John's midfielder Scott Scannell received a feed from senior attackman Eric DeJohn and put it past Yale goalie Phil Huffard to give the Red Storm a 2-0 lead. This lead would hold until the end of the first quarter, and the Bulldogs were unable to find the net in the opening quarter for the first time this season.

The Bulldogs were only able to score once in the first half. Sophomore attackman Ben Reeves found himself on the right side of the attacking zone, drawing the attention of the Red Storm defense. He then passed to Jeff Cimbalista, who was left alone on the far side of the net, and Cimbalista slotted the quick shot past St. John's goalie Joe Danaher.

While the Elis were able to cut the Red Storm's lead in half, St. John's scored just seven seconds later, when they gained possession off the face-off, quickly took it down the field and finished to earn back a two goal lead. The Red Storm would then add two more in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs ended the second quarter down 5-1. This was the first time all season that the Elis have faced a deficit at halftime.

Huffard said, "It definitely rattled us for a second. They got a few quick ones on us, and then with the play of their goalie, we weren't getting a ton of success on our opportunities, so we ended up playing a lot of defense."

After two quarters, the Elis had the statistical advantage in nearly every category. They outshot the Red Storm 27 to 11, had five fewer turnovers, and had the slight advantage at the face-off position. But ultimately it came down to conversion of offensive opportunities, and the Bulldogs found many of their shots sailing wide of the net.

The St. John's goalie, junior Joe Danaher, was the key for the Red Storm's success in the first half. He made eight saves in the first two quarters, and was unafraid to put his body on the line to make a stop. In the second quarter, Michael Keasey had an open look on net, but Danaher used his shin to make a save on the low shot.

To start the third quarter, the Red Storm made a surprise substitution, taking out the star of the first half, Danaher, for redshirt freshman Michael O'Keeffe. It seemed like a questionable decision after his impressive performance between the pipes, but the Red Storm had made this substitution all season, and valued consistency over momentum. O'Keeffe had posted a higher save percentage and lower goals-against average after the season's first four games.

What would happen in the second half cannot be pinned on O'Keeffe alone. The Red Storm defense grew tired, and the Yale offense executed with greater efficiency. But the Elis found the net 12 times in the last two quarters to pull away from the Red Storm and continue their undefeated start to the 2016 campaign.

Head Coach Andy Shay said that at halftime, he told his players to "keep their composure... these are the types of moments that make us grow as a team, while facing this adversity. You hope you fight through it, but you're still nervous that something not good is going to happen. To their credit, they stuck with it, kept their composure, and had a good second half."

A comeback, however, was not immediately eminent. St. John's scored two more times early in the third quarter to build a seemingly comfortable 7-1 lead. The Elis did not show signs of a comeback attempt, but it only took one goal to change the game completely. Reeves, the team's leading scorer, was isolated with a defender behind the net. He found some separation, came around in front of the goal, and scored the first of seven unanswered goals for the Bulldogs in the third quarter. Reeves said of his goal, "[The defender] was giving me a lot of space, so I was able to drive up topside."

Reeves then scored a nearly identical goal less than four minutes after his first, and senior midfielder Mark Glicini notched his first goal of the season 40 seconds later to pull the Bulldogs within three. The fans at Reese Stadium, stunned silent after the first-half, were showing signs of life, helping to carry the momentum that the Elis were building.

Junior midfielder Eric Scott, a key to the second half offensive explosion, scored his fifth goal of the year off a feed from Reeves with less than four minutes to go in the third. Reeves then scored his third goal of the day, and within seven minutes the Bulldogs had gone from being down six to only trailing by one. Scott scored his second goal less than 20 seconds later, and suddenly the game was tied at seven.

Reeves said, "Once we got the first one to fall in the second half, it was just easier. Coach told us to keep doing what we were doing. We were getting shots in the first half, but we weren't getting them on cage, and he told us to just keep working hard and we would get there."

Senior midfielder Michael Bonacci scored with nine seconds remaining in the third to give the Elis their first lead of the evening, scoring the seventh consecutive goal for the Bulldogs. This is the third straight game that the team has scored at least five unanswered goals, and the first time they have done so to claim the lead. The Red Storm scored quickly off the ensuing faceoff to tie the game at eight, but the momentum was still on the Bulldogs' side.

It did not take long for the Elis to regain the lead in the fourth quarter. Reeves launched a pass from well behind the net to a diving Bonacci at the point, who then stood up and fired a shot past O'Keeffe. Reeves would find Jeff Cimbalista just outside the crease less than a minute later, who then scored his second of the day. Freshman Brendan Mackie scored his second goal of the season off a pass from sophomore Jason Alessi to give the Bulldogs a three goal lead. Scott and Cimbalista then each scored their third goal of the game to build a 13-8 lead that would hold until the final whistle.  

While it took over 30 minutes of play for the Elis to return to form, they dominated in terms of statistics. The Yale offense outshot the Red Storm 59-25 on the day, while committing fewer turnovers (15-8) and collecting more groundballs (30-23).

Despite the victory, the Bulldogs gave up eight goals, the most they have all season. That did not phase Coach Shay, as he said, "We are going to watch the film. They had two on the man-up, and we know we have a pretty good defense. In the end, I don't really care about the number of goals against us. I am just glad that we won."

The Elis were successful once again in shutting down their opponent's leading scorer. The defensive unit limited Red Storm attackman Jason DeBenedictis, who scored six points (4 G, 2 A) last week against Siena, to only one goal. Eric DeJohn, the other major threat for the St. John's offense, was also only able to find the net once.

Reeves, who lead all scorers with seven points (3 G, 4 A), said that the team will be moving forward, "One day at a time. We want to keep the pace for the next game."

The Bulldogs look to carry the momentum from a 12-goal second half when they travel to play Fairfield on Saturday.  

filed by Andrew Del Vecchio '19 (andrew.delvecchio@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity 

Ted Keating photo