NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's lacrosse team's archrival provided a tough test Saturday afternoon at Reese Stadium, but ultimately the Bulldogs had the edge they needed. Once again it was a talented first-year class that delivered, as goals by midfielder
Taylor Lane and attacker
Caroline Burt in the final 5:25 broke an 11-11 tie with Harvard and the Bulldogs held on for a 13-12 win. The victory moves Yale to 4-0 in Ivy League play for the first time since 1995 and 8-2 overall for the first time since 2002.
Harvard (4-5, 2-2 Ivy League) held Yale scoreless for the first 11:40, but when the Bulldogs started scoring they did so in bunches. Four goals in a span of 2:20, including two from first-year attacker
Taylor Everson assisted by her classmate midfielder
Fallon Vaughn, put Yale ahead 4-2 heading into the second.
The second quarter saw runs by both teams. After Harvard tied the score 4-4, Yale scored three straight. Senior attacker
Olivia Markert had two of those, on her way to scoring six for the day – one away from her season high. Harvard scored three of the next four to get within 8-7 before Markert scored again 73 seconds before halftime to get the lead back to two.
Both defenses settled in during the third quarter, as each team scored only two goals.
Yale junior goalie
Clare Boone made three of her eight saves in the fourth, but Harvard rallied to tie the game 11-11 early in the quarter on two goals by midfielder Callie Hem within a span of less than four minutes. Hem finished with six goals.
Lane's go-ahead goal with 5:25 left was assisted by junior attacker
Olivia Penoyer, Penoyer's fourth assist of the day. Senior defender
Kelsey Dunn, Yale's captain, followed that up by drawing a charge to stymie Havard on its next possession.
Burt's underhanded backhand goal made it 13-11 with 2:46 to play, but Harvard got the draw control. The Yale defense forced Hem into a low-percentage bounce shot that Boone saved, but after a Yale turnover Harvard attacker Riley Campbell scored to get the Crimson within one with 88 seconds left.
Vaughn then came up with one of her biggest plays of the day, chasing down the draw control. That enabled the Bulldogs to run out the clock, ending the game with the ball safely in Markert's stick.
"The leadership on our team has been tremendous and it was evident in our game today," said
Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. "
Olivia Markert was excellent and efficient on the offensive end. Credit to
Olivia Penoyer for consistently quarterbacking our young offense. It was not an easy feat against Harvard's exceptional defense. Defensively, I am proud of the way our upperclassmen took ownership over the defense today, especially down the stretch. We need to improve and make adjustments this week in preparation for our game at Cornell next Saturday."
In addition to Markert's six goals, Yale also got two goals each from Burt, Everson and first-year midfielder
Sophie Straka. Lane also scored, while Vaughn finished with two assists and Everson had one. First-year midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo had nine draw controls to help Yale to an 18-11 advantage in that category. Markert added five draws.
Yale is the only 4-0 team in Ivy League play. Princeton improved to 2-0 in the league with a win vs. Brown Saturday, and Cornell beat Penn to move to 3-1. Every other team has at least two Ivy losses. The Bulldogs play at Cornell next Saturday.
