Morrill, Gaudet Help Yale to Season-High in Goals

HANOVER, N.H. – The No. 3 Bulldogs came out barking today at Scully-Fahey Field with an offensive explosion that put the game away early. That was important because the 17-7 win over Dartmouth clinched a spot in the 2018 Ivy League Tournament for a Yale men's lacrosse team that has now won 8 of its last 9 games.

The season-high offensive output led by Jackson Morrill's 5 goals and 7 points and 4-goal, 5-point day from Matt Gaudet put the Blue alone in first place and enabled them to qualify for a ninth straight league post-season event.  

The Bulldogs (8-2, 4-0 Ivy) scored on their first 4 possessions and had a 4-goal lead in the first 1:46 of the contest.

"That [fast start] was good for us, and we were getting transition looks," said Morrill, who equaled his career-high in goals today. We've been starting well the last couple of games. I hope that will be the identity of our team going forward."

The Big Green could not solve Yale FOGO Conor Mackie, who won 17 of 21 and helped the visitors dominate in shots and ground balls. The senior, who scored after one of his faceoff wins, ignited the offense with possessions.

Yale, which had the game's first 6 tallies, got its fifth in transition after a great Jack Starr save. The first-year goalie, who finished with 8 saves, kicked out a shot before Robert Mooney carried for the clear and then found Morrill open for his second goal.

"I was coming off ball movement from teammates who were making it easier for me," said Morrill. "They were moving the defense around, and that helped me get lost."

Yale's defense kept the home team off the scoreboard until early in the second quarter, and then got the 6-goal lead back with a great defensive play by Mooney, who swiped the ball away from a Dartmouth player that led to Gaudet's second tally of the game.

When the Green put together a 2-goal run to cut the margin to 7-3, Jack Tigh (2-2-4) answered with his second of the game, running across 15 yards out and going high with a righthanded shot at 1:34 of the second.

"This was a great team win," said captain Ben Reeves, who had a goal and 4 assists. "A lot of guys got involved and made contributions. Our sideline was going nuts."

Reeves put the finishing touches on a great first half for the visitors with a laser pass to Gaudet on the edge of the crease that sent them to halftime with a 9-3 lead.

Yale put a stop to another two-goal Dartmouth run to take a 10-5 lead into the fourth. Jason Alessi, one of eight Elis to find the net, rifled a righty shot top shelf with 62 seconds left in the third, a play that opened the flood gates for the Eli offense. That was the first of 8 straight goals to bury any hopes of a Big Green comeback.

Andy Shay's gang may drop a place in the rankings after going 1-1 on the week, but the Blue is in good position to defend the regular-season championship and try to win a fourth straight tournament title.

BULLDOG BITES

Everyone in a Yale uniform saw action today including 4 different FOGOs and all 3 goalies… Christopher Keating led the defense with 4 ground balls and a caused turnover… The Blue plays at Brown a week from today (1 pm. ILN)… Ben Reeves owns the top Eli mark for career points with 253, but his 139 goals are 23 shy of the school record established by Jon Reese '90 (162) over a 3-year span from 1988-1990.

AROUND THE IVY

Every team can still qualify for the 4-team, Ivy League Tournament that takes place May 4 and 6 at Columbia. This is the first neutral site league tournament since the inception of the Ivy event in 2010. The Bulldogs have qualified for all 8 Ivy Tournaments. Here's what happened in the league today: Cornell (7-3, 3-1) defeated Harvard (7-3, 2-1) 15-11 at Ithaca, Brown (5-4, 2-1) beat Penn (5-6, 1-3) 10-9 at Philly and Princeton (4-5, 0-3) won at home vs. Stony Brook 16-8.

By Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD/Sports Publicity Director – steven.conn@yale.edu