NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale women's lacrosse team has made Reese Stadium an extremely tough place for visiting teams in the past few years, posting an 11-3 mark in their last 14 home games heading into this weekend -- including a perfect 4-0 mark this season. But a determined Albany squad used a fast start to quell momentum for the Bulldogs Saturday. After the Great Danes took an early 4-1 lead, Yale got no closer than two goals the rest of the way. Albany eventually pulled away for a 13-7 win, scoring the most goals by a Yale opponent at Reese in more than a year.

Albany (5-3, 1-0 America East) had a deceptively middle-of-the road record heading into Saturday, as two of the Great Danes' three losses in seven games had been to nationally ranked teams. The visitors still featured a potentially dynamic offense led by attacker Dakotah Savitcheff (a preseason Inside Lacrosse third team All-American) and attacker Alie Jimerson (fifth in the nation in assists per game).

After Yale freshman midfielder Amanda Bosland got the scoring started by scoring off a feed from junior attacker Tess McEvoy less than eight minutes in, Albany took over thanks to a pair of goals from Jimerson along with one each from Savitcheff and midfielder Sarah Martin.

"Give credit to Albany -- they came out and played hard," said Erica LaGrow, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. "They are a well-coached, strong team, and they took us out of our game plan."

That Albany run prompted a Yale timeout, and the Bulldogs then quickly got a goal when freshman midfielder Addie Zinsner scooped up the rebound of a shot by junior attacker Hope Hanley and scored to get Yale within 4-2 at 12:27. But Albany outscored Yale 4-2 the rest of the half, with the Bulldogs' goals coming from Hanley (assisted by McEvoy) and McEvoy (on a free position) to make the score 8-4 Albany at the break.

The Great Danes had won nine of 13 draws at that point, and were on their way to becoming the first team this season to win the draw control battle against Yale (12 draws for Albany, 10 for Yale). After a win on the opening draw of the second by sophomore midfielder Madeleine Gramigna helped McEvoy get another free position goal, Albany scored a pair of goals to go up 10-5 with 11:09 to play.

That prompted another Bulldogs timeout, but after McEvoy sandwiched a pair of goals around one tally for Albany to make the score 11-7 with 5:01 left, a turnover negated Yale's next possession and the chance to pull within three.

An Albany turnover gave the Bulldogs another chance with 2:30 to play, but goalie Courtney Henderson stopped a bounce shot from a falling Gramigna. The Great Danes then tacked on two goals in the last 85 seconds to make the final 13-7.

Yale sophomore goalie Sydney Marks finished with five saves, while Henderson made eight. The Bulldogs were hurt by 16 turnovers, snapping a streak of three straight games with 10 or fewer TOs. McEvoy (4-2-6) was a bright spot in registering her fifth straight game with three or more goals, and she did not have any turnovers.

The last time Yale (5-5, 2-1 Ivy League) allowed that many goals at home was a 15-7 loss to Cornell Mar. 7, 2015. The Bulldogs return to Reese this Wednesday, hosting Boston College at 4:00 p.m.

"We need to get back to the drawing board, come up with some better schemes and implement them," said LaGrow. "We look forward to making a quick turnaround for Wednesday's game."

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