NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The cure for any frayed nerves and exhaustion coming from a third overtime game in 10 days was a simple one for the Yale field hockey team Sunday afternoon at Johnson Field: turn to a veteran. Senior midfielder
Théodora Dillman came through again when the Bulldogs needed her, scoring on a penalty corner with 2:59 left in the first OT for an exhilarating 2-1 win over Quinnipiac on a cold and windy fall day. It was her second overtime game-winner in that stretch.
Dillman had scored the game-winner 33 seconds into overtime in Yale's game at Brown Sept. 23. Sunday's GWG took a little longer, but it came like the one at Brown had: on a penalty corner.
Sophomore forward
Ellie Barlow had the insert on the game-winning play. Junior midfielder
Maddy Wong set up as the stick stopper before moving out of the way so that the ball went directly to Dillman, who fired it past the right leg of Quinnipiac goalkeeper Cristina Torres.
The corner was set up by pressure from Yale that generated a Quinnipiac turnover at midfield, with sophomore forward
Julia Freedman forcing QU to try an aerial that was knocked down by senior midfielder
Maddy Wong. That eventually enabled sophomore forward
Lily Ramsey to drive in along the end line and earn the corner for Yale.
Yale (6-4, 1-1 Ivy League) was coming off a tough loss to No. 9 Princeton Friday, and fell behind 1-0 less than 10 minutes into Sunday's game. But the Bulldogs battled back, tying the game in the second quarter. Freedman played a critical role in that goal as well, knocking the ball away from a Bobcat deep in QU territory. The Bobcats momentarily regrouped and attempted to connect on a pass, but Beales nabbed the ball when it eluded its intended recipient. She touched it towards the top of the circle to get herself some room, then chased it down and shot one across her body while running away from the goal. The move enabled her to slip it past a diving Torres and into the far left corner of the goal.
The second half of regulation was scoreless, but the Bulldogs began to tilt the field in their favor with a 4-1 advantage in shots in the fourth quarter. They earned three corners in that quarter but could not get the game-winner; they finally broke through on their first corner of overtime.
Junior goalkeeper
Luanna Summer finished with four saves. Dillman now has six career game-winning goals.
Quinnipiac (4-7, 0-3 Big East) and Yale have now gone to overtime five times in their last 11 meetings, with the Bobcats winning three of those games. Overall, 11 of the last 13 games between these two teams have been decided by one goal.
Yale visits No. 15 Harvard next Friday.
