PRINCETON, N.J. – The No. 24 Yale women's lacrosse team had a huge challenge ahead of itself Saturday afternoon at Princeton's Sherrerd Field. The No. 12 Tigers were saluting their head coach, Chris Sailer, who is retiring after 36 years. Princeton's only losses this season had come against teams ranked inside the top eight nationally. And the Ivy League title was at stake. The Bulldogs came in as the upstarts, boasting a 6-0 Ivy record for the first time in school history after having already dramatically outperformed preseason expectations – they were picked for seventh in the Ivy poll. They wound up giving the Tigers (who were also 6-0 in league play) all they could handle, coming up just short in their attempt to play spoiler. Yale was within one late in the third quarter before the Tigers got just enough separation to finish with a 17-14 win.
Half (nine of 18) of the players who played in this game for Yale were first years, including four starters. That added to the challenge, but was nothing new for the Bulldogs. That class wound up accounting for 10 of Yale's goals, though it was one of the team's veterans – junior attacker
Olivia Penoyer (3-2-5) who led the team in points.
In a game filled with runs, Princeton had two of the first three: a pair of Tiger goals to start and finish the first quarter, sandwiched around a pair of Yale goals. When the Bulldogs opened the second quarter with two goals to tie the game, then tied the game again after Princeton went ahead 5-4, it was clear that the battle had been joined.
Princeton (12-3, 7-0 Ivy League) scored five of the next six goals – including the 50th of the season for attacker Kyla Sears – to take a 10-6 lead into halftime. Still, the Bulldogs refused to go away. Yale scored the first three goals of the third quarter, with first-year midfielder
Sophie Straka's tally at 10:42 bringing the Bulldogs within 10-9. That goal was the 206th of the season for Yale, breaking the school record set in 2017.
The Tigers answered with three straight goals, including two more by Sears. But Yale then scored three straight in response, including a pair in a span of 41 seconds by Penoyer.
The Bulldogs enjoyed a dramatic advantage on the draw for most of the game, and first-year midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo got the one after Yale's third goal of that span. The Bulldogs thus had possession with a chance to tie. But after a shot wide and a shot high, a save by Princeton goalie Sam Fish – one of a season-high 17 on the day for her – kept Yale at bay.
The Tigers tacked on one more goal with 1:05 left in the third, then scored the first two of the fourth to get the lead to 16-12. That included a particularly frustrating goal for Yale, as Tiger attacker Grace Tauckus scored with just two seconds left on the shot clock at the 6:32 mark by shoveling the ball in while falling to the turf.
Yale would score two of the final three goals of the game, but it was not enough to prevent a Princeton celebration.
In addition to Penoyer, five other Bulldogs had multiple-point games – and all of them were first years: Straka (2-0-2), attacker
Caroline Burt (2-1-3), attacker
Jenna Collignon (2-0-2), attacker
Taylor Everson (2-1-3) and midfielder
Fallon Vaughn (2-1-3). Senior attacker
Olivia Markert added one goal.
Carrasquillo (13 draws) and Collignon (seven) combined to help give Yale a 25-9 draw control advantage. The Bulldogs now have 248 draw controls for the season, breaking the school record (243) set in 2019. Junior defender
Ali Anderson led the Bulldogs in caused turnovers with three. Junior goalkeeper
Clare Boone finished with nine saves.
Yale (10-5, 6-1 Ivy League) had been seeking its first 7-0 Ivy season in school history. The Bulldogs now finish 6-1 for just the third time, joining the 2003 and 2007 squads.
With the win Princeton earns its 16th Ivy League title under Sailer and also earns the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League Tournament, which it will host. Yale, the No. 2 seed, takes on No. 3 seed Cornell Friday at 4:00 p.m. in the first semifinal. Princeton faces No. 4 seed Harvard at 7:00 p.m. Friday. The Ivy League Tournament Championship is set for Sunday at noon and will determine the recipient of the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
