Box Score 21-6 Win Puts Yale in Sunday Championship Game
NEW YORK, N.Y. – With his team trying to clear the ball early in the first quarter, Jack Tigh caught a pass and tried to cross the midline with three Penn players standing in the way. After being knocked to the ground and jumping up to continue his intended path - with sticks flailing away at the junior midfielder – Tigh, who retained possession the entire way, fired a shot over the goalie's shoulder into the net.
That was just the first tally of the Ivy League Tournament Semifinal at Robert K. Kraft Field, but it set the tone for the Yale men's lacrosse team's record-breaking, 21-6 win over Penn. The first score in a 14-goal margin of victory rarely matters, but this was very different.
"Jack made an incredible play in the middle of the field," said Yale head coach Andy Shay. "We call that a talent play… when we are not using other guys. Sometimes we have to rely on him, and he's got a lot of talent."
Tigh didn't even know how many Quakers were on him. In fact, he thought it was just two.
"We were four down. [Jack] Starr threw it to me. I was looking to throw it to the outside to Joey [Sessa], but he was covered. I figured the only way to beat my man was to run by him. Their attackman was pretty fast and he caught up to me. I kept it near my chest and kept driving my legs," said Tigh." Once I saw daylight, I knew I was ok."
Yale captain Ben Reeves, who had 7 points tonight, thought the play was inspirational. "It was a huge lift at the beginning of the game. He got me excited, he got everyone excited," said Reeves.
The No. 1 ranked Bulldogs (13-2), who notched a sixth straight blowout win, scored the game's first 5 goals, on just 8 shots, and prevented the Quakers from taking a shot until there was 3:27 left in the first.
Yale had the first 5 and then answered 3 straight by Penn with another 5 in a row. The Elis were converting turnovers into goals, and that more than likely helped secure a first-round NCAA Tournament game at Reese Stadium next weekend. Six of Yale's first 8 goals came off turnovers.
Matt Gaudet had a career-high 7 goals, Reeves scored 4 and handed out 3 assists and Jackson Morrill pitched in 5 points while Tigh finished with a pair of goals and 3 points in the highest scoring total in Ivy Tourney history.
Joseph Sessa snatched a rebound out of the air off a save and easily deposited it in the back of the net at 10:20 to make it 2-0. Gaudet, who had 7 goals on 13 shots and now has 14 scores over the last 3 outings, then took a feed from Reeves and rolled a shot past Reed Junkin.
The offense was clicking, the defense was creating turnovers and Bulldogs like Tyler Warner were making great athletic plays. The senior midfielder sprinted to grab a ground ball near the sideline. He saved it with a Penn player all over him, prevented it from going out of bounds and then made a nifty pass. When Warner sprinted back to the Yale bench, he encountered his brother, Jared, a junior on the Penn team. Jared, who had to be impressed with his siblings' skills, gave him a fist bump.
The mojo was flowing for the Blue. Reeves launched a low, lefty rocket from 18 yards out to go up 4-0 before Jason Alessi won a ground ball on the ensuing faceoff and Gaudet threw a jump shot in from the left side.
When Yale got to 5-0, the Quakers put together their only run of the game. The Blue answered with 8 of the next 9 including a dagger-inserting, one-timer tally from Brendan Rooney (2 goals) with 6.3 seconds left in the half.
"I thought the upper classmen took control this week. They said let's focus on ourselves. They led us today, dodging hard and running all over the place," said Morrill.
Senior face-off man Conor Mackie had a solid day, winning 15 of 23, but you would have thought he won every battle on the X tonight when looking at the final team stats (56-27 shots, 41-22 ground balls).
"We are playing at a high level now, and we came out firing tonight," said Shay. "This is a high energy group, and I'm proud of the effort for sure. Give credit to Penn. They are a high RPI team and had a great year. We have a lot of respect for them."
Yale, looking for its 4th straight tournament title, will play Cornell on Sunday at noon (ESPNU) before finding out that night who will come to New Haven in the first round of the NCAAs.
BULLDOG BITES
Tonight's win was the 47th for the Class of 2018, which is now the winningest class in Yale Lacrosse history… Matt Gaudet's 7 goals were the second most for anyone in Ivy Tourney history. The record was set by Yale's Deron Dempster scored 8 in a 2012 semifinal win over Cornell at Princeton… Gaudet's total tonight was the most for a Bulldog since that Dempster tourney performance… Cornell beat Brown 7-4 tonight in semifinal 2.
By Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD/Sports Publicity Director – steven.conn@yale.edu
