NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The 2021 Yale field hockey season begins with two games in three days at Johnson Field this weekend, as Merrimack (Friday, 3:00 p.m., ESPN+, Stretch (International)) and Fairfield (Sunday, 2:00 p.m., ESPN+, Stretch (International)) visit the Bulldogs. These are Yale's first games since a 4-1 win vs. Brown Nov. 9, 2019.
 
FOR STARTERS
Yale has won four of its last five season openers -- all at home. That includes three wins vs. Sacred Heart from 2015 through 2017 and a win vs. Michigan State in 2018.
 
ALL-IVY RETURNEES
Yale returns a pair of players with All-Ivy League credentials. Senior midfielder Imogen Davies (Kilmacolm, Scotland) is a three-time honoree (second team twice, honorable mention once). Junior midfielder Théodora Dillman (Lancaster, Pa.) has a pair of second-team selections on her résumé. 
 
CHANGE IN GOAL
After enjoying three seasons of All-Ivy League work in goal from Sydney Terroso '21, Yale will have a new goalie this season. First year Alexa Pitts (Lancaster, Pa.) and sophomore Luanna Summer (St. Louis, Mo.) are the Bulldogs' two keepers, with Summer having played 60 minutes in relief of Terroso in 2019. 
 
FAMILIAR FACES ON STAFF
Yale's coaching staff includes a pair of alums. Mary Beth Beiler '13, who initially joined the staff in 2015 and then served as a volunteer after making the U.S. National Team in 2018, is now back in a full-time role as an assistant coach. Sydney Terroso '21 is now a volunteer assistant on the Yale staff while working as a postgraduate associate in Yale's Child Study Center.
 
The rest of the staff is familiar as well. Kristen O'Rourke returns for her fourth year as an assistant coach. Pam Stuper, Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey, has been Yale's head coach since the 2005 season.
 
SCOUTING MERRIMACK
Merrimack (0-2, 0-0 NEC) has dropped its first two games, 2-0 at Temple and 3-0 at La Salle. The Warriors played an abbreviated season this past spring, going 0-5. The Bulldogs won the last meeting between these two teams, 8-1 at Johnson Field Nov. 3, 2019.
 
SCOUTING FAIRFIELD
Fairfield (1-1, 0-0 NEC), which hosts Monmouth Friday afternoon, earned its first victory of 2021 last Sunday with a 2-1 win at Albany. Trailing 1-0 in the third quarter, the Stags got goals from attacker/midfielder Madison Hoskins and midfielder/defender Malen Iglesias. Fairfield is coming off a spring season in which it went 5-2.