NEW HAVEN, Conn. – For a period of more than 10 minutes in the first half Saturday at Reese Stadium, the Yale women's lacrosse seemed virtually unstoppable – and that wound up making the difference over the course of the game. Down 4-0 to Brown, the Bulldogs put together a 10-0 run to take a large lead in the second quarter. They then held off a late charge by the Bears for a 15-13 win.
The victory gives Yale its first 3-0 Ivy League start since 2002. The Bulldogs are the league's only 3-0 team (Princeton is 1-0 and every other team has at least one loss).
Brown (5-4, 2-1 Ivy League) scored the first four goals of the game, holding the Bulldogs scoreless for 13:38 to start. But once Yale (6-2, 3-0 Ivy League) started scoring, the goals came quickly. First-year midfielder
Taylor Lane scored twice in 37 seconds to get the Bulldogs within two late in the first. It was a sign of things to come.
Yale's run coincided with reversing its fortunes on the draw control, winning eight straight draws after Brown had won five of the first seven. Goals by junior attacker
Olivia Penoyer and first-year midfielder
Fallon Vaughn in the first 90 seconds of the second tied the game. The run continued for four more goals in just over three minutes as the Bulldogs built an 8-4 lead.
After a pair of defensive stands – Lane and junior defender
Ali Anderson caused turnovers – the Bulldogs got the lead to 9-4 on another goal by Lane, who deposited a nice feed from first–year attacker
Taylor Everson at the 6:49 mark. A free position goal by senior attacker
Olivia Markert made it 10-4 just over 30 seconds later.
Brown finally snapped the run with a free position goal by defender/midfielder Mia Mascone at 3:29 of the second, ending a scoreless streak of 14:49. Yale went into halftime up 10-5, having outscored Brown 8-1 in the second quarter.
Both defenses settled down in the third, with the Bears outscoring Yale 3-2 in the quarter to cut the Bulldog lead to 12-8 heading into the fourth.
Brown scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter, trimming the Yale lead to two with 11:53 to play. First-year attacker
Jenna Collignon got a critical draw control – one of 10 on the day for her – after the second Brown goal. First-year midfielder
Sophie Straka followed quickly with a goal to get Yale some more breathing room. A draw control by Markert then enabled Vaughn to complete her hat trick with a goal that made it 14-10 Yale with 10:36 left.
Brown closed within 14-11 and had a chance to get back within two with 8:30 left, but senior defender
Kelsey Dunn forced a Bears turnover.
Brown scored again with 6:23 left to make it 14-12, but Collignon got the draw control and Vaughn then scored her fourth goal. Brown got within 15-13 but would come no closer, as junior goalkeeper
Clare Boone denied Mascone with 1:10 left to snuff out the Bears' final threat. She finished with six saves.
Vaughn (4-1-5) led Yale in points, followed closely by Lane (4-0-4, plus nine draw controls) and Penoyer (2-2-4). Collignon had a hat trick (3-0-3) and Everson (0-2-2) also had a multiple-point outing. Markert and Straka finished with one goal each. First-year defender
Marymegan Wright led the team with a pair of caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls.
"Brown came out strong and got us on our heels early," said
Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. "Our women were able to shift the momentum starting with
Jenna Collignon and
Taylor Lane on the draw. Credit to Coach
Molly Palella, our draw team coordinator, in preparing multiple options against a strong Brown team. Defensively, I was very pleased with our consistent effort and execution. We still have a lot of season left to play, and are looking forward to getting back to work in preparation for a formidable opponent in Army on Tuesday."
This was Yale's ninth win in its last 10 games against Brown. The Bulldogs host Army Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.
