NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's lacrosse team faces Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals Friday at Penn Park in Philadelphia (4:00 p.m.,
ESPN+,
International Stream,
Live Stats, Tickets). The No. 2 seeded Bulldogs are seeking their second straight Ivy League Tournament championship game appearance. They fell to Princeton in last year's championship after beating Cornell in the semis.
Last Game
Yale beat Columbia 19-5 last Saturday in New York, a win that eventually earned the Bulldogs the No. 2 seed in the Ivy League Tournament. The Yale defense limited Columbia to 11 shots, and junior attacker
Chloe Conaghan (Chevy Chase, Md.) finished with a game-high six points (3-3-6).
Among Yale's Best
Yale's 10 wins this season are the second-most in a season by the team since 2008 (the 2022 squad had the most wins in that span, finishing with 11). The school record for wins in a season is 14 (1978, 1979, 1995, 1999, 2003). The Bulldogs finished in a tie for second in the Ivy League this year, making this the first time since 1984-85 that the team has finished second in the league in back-to-back seasons.
Turning 'Em Over
Yale's 160 caused turnovers for the season rank third on the school's single-season record list. The school record of 181 CTs was set in 2007. Yale averaged 10.65 CTs per game that year. As of May 2 this year, Yale was ninth in the nation in caused turnovers per game (10.67).
D is Key
Yale has allowed only 143 goals in 15 games, the lowest total in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs have held six of their opponents to six or fewer goals.
A Decisive Shot Advantage
Yale has outshot its opponents 463-327 this season, an average margin of +9 shots per game.
Clearly Better
Yale is 240 for 261 (.920) on clears and has limited its opponents to a 222 for 273 (.813) performance on clears.
All-Ivy Honorees
Yale had six All-Ivy League honorees,
announced by the league on Wednesday. Sophomore attacker
Jenna Collignon (Hinsdale, Ill.), senior attacker
Olivia Penoyer (Manlius, N.Y.) and sophomore midfielder
Fallon Vaughn (Concord, Mass.) earned first team All-Ivy. Collignon was a unanimous selection. Senior defender
Payton Vaughn (Concord, Mass.) earned second team All-Ivy recognition. Sophomore midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo (Alpharetta, Ga.) and sophomore midfielder
Taylor Lane (Norwalk, Conn.) were named honorable mention All-Ivy. Additionally, senior goalkeeper
Clare Boone (Stewartstown, Pa.) was named Academic All-Ivy League.
Penoyer Leads in Assists
Senior attacker
Olivia Penoyer (Manlius, N.Y.) leads the Ivy League in assists with 33 and set the Yale career assists record with her 87th in the win at Brown Apr. 1. She was a first team All-Ivy League selection.
Here are Yale's top five in career assists:
Olivia Penoyer (99)
Laura Karmatz '95 (86)
Erin Porta '99 (78)
Sarah Queener '03 (66)
Nicole Piasecki '84 (66)
Penoyer had 37 assists last season, six shy of Karmatz' single-season school record (set in 1994).
Collignon No. 2 in Goals, Points
Sophomore attacker
Jenna Collignon (Hinsdale, Ill.) is second in the Ivy League in goals with 49 and points with 60. Earlier this year she was
named to the Tewaaraton Award Women's Watch List and was an
Honorable Mention ILWomen Midseason All-American. She has a 22 game point-scoring streak dating back to last season. The last time she was held without a point was Mar. 13, 2022 at Boston College. She was a unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection this year.
A Unique Set of Skills
Only one player in the Ivy League has:
- 25+ goals
- 40+ points
- 10+ ground balls
- 15+ caused turnovers
AND
- 35+ draw controls
That player is Yale sophomore midfielder
Fallon Vaughn (Concord, Mass.) (29 goals, 44 points, 14 ground balls, 19 caused turnovers and 37 draw controls).
Caughn joined sophomore attacker
Jenna Collignon (Hinsdale, Ill.) to give Yale two
Honorable Mention ILWomen Midseason All-Americans. Vaughn is tied for third in the Ivy League in caused turnovers and is second on the Yale team in goals. She is third on the team in points. Vaughn was a first team All-Ivy League selection.
Grounded
Senior midfielder
Payton Vaughn (Concord, Mass.) leads the Ivy League in ground balls with 35. She, sophomore defender
Marymegan Wright (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) (24 ground balls), sophomore midfielder
Taylor Lane (Norwalk, Conn.) (23 ground balls) and sophomore midfielder
Sophie Straka (Chatham, N.J.) (20 ground balls) have all reached the 20 GB mark. Vaughn has at least one ground ball in 12 of 15 games, with a high of six in the season-opening 17-6 win vs. Vermont Feb. 18. The Yale single-season record for ground balls is 44, set in 2005 by
Sarah Driscoll '05. Vaughn was a second team All-Ivy honoree, and Lane earned honorable mention All-Ivy.
Sky Rising
Sophomore midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo (Alpharetta, Ga.) has 10 goals on 11 shots in the last three games. She totaled one goal on one shot in her first 12 games this season. She is sixth in the Ivy League in draw controls with 57. Carrasquillo was an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection.
A Pair of Pennylvanians
Yale's roster has two Keystone State natives who will be competing in their home state this weekend. Senior goalkeeper
Clare Boone (Stewartstown, Pa.) has appeared in six games this season, all starts, and has a .403 save percentage. She is a graduate of St. Paul's School for Girls and was an Academic All-Ivy League selection this year. Sophomore attacker
Caroline Burt (Newtown Square, Pa.) has appeared in 15 games, including five starts. She has five goals and two assists. She is a graduate of Episcopal Academy.
Youth Movement
Here is the breakdown of starts by class this season for Yale:
- Seniors 51 starts (four seniors have started at least one game)
- Juniors 5 starts (two juniors have started at least one game)
- Sophomores 103 starts (10 sophomores have started at least one game)
- First years 21 starts (two first years have started at least one game)
A Veteran Coaching Staff
This is Yale's eighth year under
Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. Assistant coaches
Molly Palella and
Colleen Smith are in their sixth and seventh years, respectively.
RPI and the Ivy League
Yale is the second-highest-ranked Ivy League team in the recently released
NCAA RPI rankings. Here is the full list:
20. Penn
29. Yale
41. Princeton
48. Cornell
50. Brown
56. Harvard
62. Dartmouth
109. Columbia
Last season every team that was ranked No. 22 or better in the RPI at the time of NCAA Tournament selections made the tournament. The lowest-ranked team to host first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games was Princeton, which was No. 12 in the RPI at the time of selections. NCAA Tournament selections for 2023 will be announced Sunday, May 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
The Ivy League Tournament
Penn (7-0) won the Ivy League Championship and is the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League Tournament. The top four teams in the final standings make the Ivy League Tournament, with semifinals set for Friday and the championship set for Sunday. All games take place at the site of the No. 1 seed, Penn, and will be streamed on ESPN+. They will be held at the Quakers' Penn Park. Tickets are
available on-line.
Friday 4:00 p.m. semifinal: No. 2 seed Yale vs. No. 3 seed Princeton
Friday 7:00 p.m. semifinal: No. 1 seed Penn vs. No. 4 seed Harvard
Sunday 12:00 p.m. championship: TBD vs. TBD
Scouting Princeton
Princeton (7-8, 4-3 Ivy League) finished off the regular season with a 17-13 win vs. Harvard that earned the Tigers the No. 3 seed in the Ivy League Tournament. The Tigers have not won back-to-back games since winning the second and third games of the season, at Temple Feb. 25 and at then-No. 14 Rutgers Mar. 1. Yale beat Princeton 15-10 on Mar. 4 in New Haven, the Bulldogs' first win vs. the Tigers since 2007. The last time the Bulldogs won back-to-back games in the series was 1991, when Yale beat the Tigers 6-5 in OT Apr. 20 during the regular season, then beat them again 5-4 in the ECAC Championship May 5. Both of those games were in New Haven. Yale's last win vs. Princeton outside of New Haven was a 10-9 victory Apr. 16, 1988 at Princeton.
