AMHERST, Mass. -- The Yale field hockey team tested a pair of nationally ranked opponents over the weekend, but ultimately penalty corner goals kept the Bulldogs from pulling off any upsets. On Sunday -- a day after No. 13 Harvard scored a pair of corner goals in the third to beat Yale 3-1 -- No. 20 UMass scored a trio of corner goals in the second half to hand the Bulldogs a 3-0 defeat. 
 
Yale returned to Gladchuk Field Hockey Complex for the first time since 2017, when the Bulldogs pulled off a 1-0 upset of the then-No. 23 Minutewomen. In the early going this time, they seemed capable of repeating that feat. The first half was evenly played, with penalty corners 3-3 and shots 5-4 in favor of UMass. The Minutewomen went ahead at 37:55 after a penalty corner allowed defender/midfielder Hannah de Gast to set up defender Josie Rossbach for her second goal of the season.
 
UMass (9-4, 2-1 Atlantic 10) extended the lead to 2-0 early in the fourth on another penalty corner goal, this one by midfielder Georgie McTear. She followed up her own blocked shot with one that slipped past Yale sophomore goalkeeper Luanna Summer. McTear then added another corner goal with a high, backhand shot shortly before the game ended.
 
"We played very well," said Pam Stuper, Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey. "UMass comes up with great corners and executes them well -- we knew that going in. The goals they scored on us were well-earned."

Yale's penalty corner unit had been producing goals reliably in recent games -- accounting for all of the team's last six goals -- but on Sunday the Bulldogs were held scoreless on nine corner attempts. 
 
Yale (4-7, 1-2 Ivy League) played three nationally ranked opponents in its last four games and was either tied or within a goal of each of those teams into the third quarter. Next, the Bulldogs visit Columbia Friday at 6:00 p.m.