NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The regular season comes to an end in dramatic fashion this Saturday for No. 24 Yale, as the Bulldogs travel to No. 12 Princeton (3:00 p.m.,
ESPN+,
Live Stats). Both teams enter the game with perfect 6-0 records in Ivy League play, so the winner of this game will be Ivy League champion and the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League Tournament (May 6-8, hosted by the No. 1 seed).
Ivy League Tournament Picture
At 6-0 in the Ivy League, Yale has clinched one of the top two seeds in the Ivy League Tournament (May 6-8 at the site of the No. 1 seed). Princeton is also 6-0, so the game Saturday will decide the Ivy League title and the No. 1 seed. Three Ivy teams – Brown, Cornell and Harvard – are 3-3 and tied for third place in the
league standings, with only the top four teams making the Ivy League Tournament. Brown plays at Harvard Saturday at 2:00 p.m., while Cornell hosts Dartmouth at 1:00 p.m. The winner of the Ivy League Tournament receives the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament field includes 15 automatic bids and 14 teams selected at large.
Last Game
Heading into Monday's game at Reese Stadium, only two teams had held a lead at halftime on No. 6 Stony Brook: then-No. 3 Syracuse in the season opener and then-No. 5 Northwestern on Mar. 10. The No. 24 Yale women's lacrosse team joined that group Monday, outscoring the Seawolves 6-5 through the first 30 minutes. But while those first two games eventually turned into losses for Stony Brook, this time the Seawolves were able to rally. They outscored the Bulldogs 6-1 in the third quarter and went on to
win 14-10. First-year midfielder
Taylor Lane (Norwalk, Conn.) had a career-high six goals and seven points for Yale.
Tied for School Ivy Wins Record
The win vs. Columbia last Saturday moved Yale to 6-0 in Ivy League play for the first time in school history. Prior to this season no Yale team had ever started the Ivy season with more than four straight wins. The only seasons in which Yale totaled six Ivy wins were 2003 (6-1) and 2007 (6-1). Yale's only undefeated Ivy seasons were 1976 (3-0), 1978 (4-0-1) and 1980 (4-0-2).
Yale's Ivy League Championship History
Yale has won two Ivy League Championships: 1980 (shared with Penn) and 2003 (shared with Dartmouth and Princeton).
Double Digits
Yale is at 10 wins, the most in a season for the Bulldogs since 2008 (11-5). The school record for wins in a season is 14 by the 1978, 1999 and 2003 teams.
A Look at the Team Record Book
Yale has registered some of the most impressive team stats in school history this year. Here is a look:
- Goals
- 197 goals, tied for fifth-most in school history. The school record is 205, set in 2017.
- Assists
- 73 assists, tied for ninth-most in school history. The school record is 113, set in 1978.
- Points
- 270 points, seventh in school history. The school record is 304, set in 2017.
- Draw Controls
- 223 draw controls, fourth in school history. The school record is 243, set in 2019.
Poll Position
Yale moved up to No. 24 in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll on Monday. The Bulldogs made the national top 25 for the first time this season on Monday Apr. 18, coming in at No. 25. They had been among the teams receiving votes in the poll for four straight weeks (Mar. 21, Mar. 28, Apr. 4, Apr. 11).
Bulldogs No. 2 in Ivy in RPI
Yale is second among Ivy League teams in the
NCAA RPI rankings. The Bulldogs are No. 25 overall and Princeton is No. 11. Penn (No. 40) and Cornell (No. 49) are the only other Ivy League teams in the top 50.
Quick on the Draw
Yale leads the Ivy League in draw controls per game with 15.93. That ranks 19th in the nation. Three Bulldogs – first-year midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo (Alpharetta, Ga.) (5.15, third), first-year midfielder
Taylor Lane (Norwalk, Conn.) (3.00, t-10th) and senior attacker
Olivia Markert (Centreville, Va.) (3.00, t-10th) – are among the Ivy's top 10 in draws.
Markert Makes Mark in Record Book
Senior attacker
Olivia Markert (Centreville, Va.) leads Yale in goals and is second in points (40-7-47). She is second in the Ivy League in goals per game (2.86) and is third in points per game (3.36). She is second in the nation in free position goals per game (1.43). Markert is seventh on Yale's career goals list with 113, and needs seven more to crack the top five. She is 13th on Yale's career points list (113-24-137).
Penoyer Sets Assists Mark
Junior attacker
Olivia Penoyer (Manlius, N.Y.) has a team-best 32 assists and 50 points, She is leading the Ivy League in assists per game (2.29, 11th in the nation). Her 32 assists rank fifth on Yale's single-season list, 16 away from the Yale record (48, set by
Hope Hanley '17 in 2017). She is seventh on Yale's career assists list with 61 and is 18th on Yale's career points list with 122.
Webster Honored
Senior attacker
Isabelle Webster (Towson, Md.) earned the
Yale Athletics Department's Molly Meyer Humanitarian Award this past Monday. The award is given annually to male and female senior student-athletes whose character exemplifies selfless devotion along with compassion and concern for their team and the community at Yale and beyond. Webster has been an avid advocate for positive student-athlete experiences and wellness since she arrived on campus. She is an active member of several student-athlete organizations focusing on projects to provide support and resources to collegiate student-athletes. She has been a mainstay on SAAC since her sophomore year and has recently earned SAAC All-Star status. She serves on the SAAC wellness subcommittee, now referred to as YU Matter. Most notably, she worked with a group to create student-to-student peer group sessions, creating a place for athletes to connect on issues and successes of their teams. Webster is also involved in organizations outside the Yale community. She serves as a facilitator of group-based conversations for the One Love Foundation. In just her first year at Yale, she led the Yale team in guided discussions about understanding and recognizing signs of relationship abuse during the One Love Escalation Workshop. Most recently, she was selected as a student ambassador for Hidden Opponent, an organization that raises awareness for student-athlete mental health and addresses the stigma within the sports culture.
Scouting Princeton
Princeton (11-3, 6-0 Ivy League) has won four in a row. The Tigers' only losses this season have come to teams ranked inside the top eight nationally. This is the final season for head coach Chris Sailer, who is retiring after 36 years. She has led the Tigers to three NCAA Championships and 15 Ivy League titles.
