NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Saturday was indeed a special night at Reese Stadium as the No. 22-ranked Yale men's soccer team clinched the Ivy League Championship title and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament thanks to a 2-0 win over Brown.
The Elis win their sixth league title, first since 2005 and first out-right crown since 1991. Yale also won in 1989, 1986 and 1956.
"Really hard to put words together on what this means for this team and program," said
Kylie Stannard, The 5K Corral Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "I don't think I could have written a better script to be able to clinch the championship at home on senior night with my first recruiting class. The hard work, sacrifice and adversity they have been through makes this even sweeter. Many past players have helped lay the foundation to make this happen and this championship is for them as well."
Junior
Mark Winhoffer and sophomore
Enzo Okpoye each scored goals while the Bulldogs completed the clean sheet, their seventh of the season, to improve to 12-2-2 overall and 5-1 in Ivy League play.
The victory gave the Bulldogs their first-ever perfect seven at Reese Stadium, going 7-0. Yale is now one win away from tying its school record of 13 victories.
Eight seniors –
Andrew Bortey,
Andrew Carton,
Will Emerson,
John Leisman,
Justin Lobe,
Ryan Matteo,
Andrew Sady-Kennedy and
Miguel Yuste – played their final home match at Reese and celebrated by hoisting the Ivy League Championship trophy, Yale's first 14 years.
Winhoffer got things started as he connected on a free kick 11 minutes into the game for his second goal of the season.
The Bulldogs played with a one-goal advantage for much of the contest until the 75
th minute when Matteo fired a ball off the post which was corralled and played into the back of the net by Okpoye.
Yale outshot Brown, 15-9, including a 6-2 mark in the first half. The Bulldogs also had five corner kicks to Brown's three.
Eli goalkeeper
Elian Haddock made two saves in the contest to earn the shutout.
The Bulldogs wrap up their regular season next Saturday, November 16 at Princeton. Kickoff is slated at 4 p.m., on ESPN+
"This is a special group, and they have earned every bit of this moment," Stannard said. "What's even better is that we have more soccer to play and more opportunities ahead for them to continue to write their chapter."
