NEW YORK -- A pair of goals from first years in the fourth quarter made the difference Friday night as the Yale field hockey team beat Columbia 4-2. The game was tied 2-2 when forward Lily Ramsey drove home her first career goal, giving Yale the lead with 6:40 to play. After Columbia pulled its goalkeeper in the final minutes, forward Ellie Barlow scored an insurance goal to seal the victory.
 
Barlow and Ramsey are part of a first-year class that has already made some big contributions, with four having played at least 10 games each and two (Barlow and back Keely Comizio) having earned starts. The goals Friday night were the second and third for the class as a whole.
 
"For any first year, college is an adjustment in itself," said Pam Stuper, Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey. "Most of the time you see first years start to come along in-season as they start to understand their roles. We knew we had a strong class that was capable of impacting the game in their first year. They have worked really hard to create opportunities, and they were a huge part of the second half tonight."
 
Yale (5-7, 2-2 Ivy League) outshot Columbia 6-2 in the first half but did not get on the scoreboard until senior midfielder Imogen Davies sent a ball in front that hit off a Columbia player before senior forward/midfielder Kelly Dolan knocked it in for a 1-0 lead at 25:04.
 
Senior midfielder Iliana Cabral then scored off an assist by sophomore forward Lena Ansari at 37:43 to extend the lead to 2-0, but that did not last long. Columbia (6-5, 0-4 Ivy League) answered 72 seconds later with a goal from back Maya Walker, then evened the game less than 10 minutes later on a goal by midfielder Lindsey Yu early in the fourth.
 
That set the stage for a dramatic finish. Columbia outshot Yale 12-4 in the fourth, but sophomore goalkeeper Luanna Summer made multiple critical stops to give her team a chance. Her denial of a shot by midfielder/forward Sophie Rockefeller came just over a minute before the Bulldogs generated a turnover in Columbia territory and Dolan set up Ramsey for the go-ahead goal.
 
Summer made one final save -- her sixth of the day, on a Columbia corner with just over four minutes to play -- before the Lions pulled Alexa Conomikes (six saves). Ansari then settled a long clearing pass from the Yale end before crossing the ball to Barlow for the Bulldogs' fourth and final goal.
 
After relying heavily on the corner unit for goals -- entering Friday the Bulldogs' last six goals had come on corners -- Yale got some much-needed goals from open play against Columbia. 
 
"Our ability to score in open play tonight was great," said Stuper. "That's something we had worked hard on through spring ball. It's starting to come together. Counters were the name of the game tonight."
 
Yale returns to action Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., hosting Sacred Heart at Johnson Field.
 

?? ?? ?? YALE GOAL! Lily Ramsey puts us up 3-2 in the 4th at Columbia! #ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/f4LFx3nVau

— Yale Field Hockey (@YaleFieldHockey) October 15, 2021