PHILADELPHIA – It took overtime to decide a back-and-forth battle between Yale and Penn in the Ivy League Women's Lacrosse Tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon at Penn Park. Neither team led by more than two goals at any point. Shots (24-22 Yale), draw controls (17-15 Yale), turnovers (13 each) and ground balls (17-15 Yale) were all similarly close, indicating just how evenly matched these teams were. It all came down to one final play – a goal by Penn's Anna Brandt at 3:11 of OT – to decide the game in the Quakers' favor, 15-14.
Yale (11-6, 4-3 Ivy League) was coming off a hard-fought
11-10 win vs. Princeton in the semifinals Friday, while Penn had cruised past Harvard 16-8 in the other semifinal. That had been a theme for the Quakers' season; they went 7-0 in Ivy League play, with none of those wins by fewer than three goals. Including Friday's semifinal, the Quakers had beaten their last four Ivy League opponents by an average of 8.5 goals.
It was clear from the outset that Sunday's game would be different. The Bulldogs took an early 5-3 lead on a goal by junior attacker
Chloe Conaghan off an assist by senior attacker
Olivia Penoyer at 7:34 of the second. That was almost as many goals as the Bulldogs had scored in the entire game when these two teams met in the regular season less than a month ago, a 16-6 Penn win.
Conaghan – who would finish with a goal and two assists – was one of multiple players who emerged as difference makers for Yale Sunday. She had totaled just nine shots in six games heading into the day, but had made the most of them by scoring six goals.
Penn (13-4, 7-0 Ivy League) went on the game's only four-goal run, from 5:21 of the second to 12:52 of the third. The Bulldogs, trailing by two goals for the first time all day, answered with a pair of goals – from sophomore midfielders
Fallon Vaughn and
Taylor Lane – to tie the game 7-7 at 10:55 of the third.
After Penn went ahead 8-7, Conaghan set up first-year attacker
Megan Kitagawa for the game-tying goal at 3:37 of the third.
Kitagawa, who had four goals on eight shots in five games entering the day, was not done. After Penn went ahead 11-10 with 12:11 remaining in the game, Kitagawa scored two goals sandwiched around one on a free position from sophomore attacker
Jenna Collignon. That gave the Bulldogs a 13-11 lead with 8:12 to play.
Penn answered with a pair of goals to forge the seventh tie of the game, setting up a dramatic finish to regulation. The Bulldogs re-took the lead when Penoyer set up
Sky Carrasquillo at 3:31 to make it 14-13, but Brandt got a critical draw control. That enabled Maria Themelis to tie the game 14-14 with 2:14 to play. The Bulldogs got the next draw control but a shot by Collignon hit the crossbar with 35 seconds left; Yale sophomore goalkeeper
Cami Donadio then forced a turnover to snuff out the Quakers' chance for a buzzer-beater.
Lane got the draw control to open overtime, but a Yale turnover gave Penn the chance to go on attack. Erika Chung set Brandt up for the game-winner, and the Quakers celebrated their fourth Ivy League Tournament title.
Carrasquillo, Penoyer and Vaughn made the All-Tournament team.
Collignon finished with a team-best four goals, while Carrasquillo and Kitagawa had three each. Vaughn finished with two and Lane and Conaghan had one each.
Penoyer had a game-high six assists, while Conaghan had two and Collignon had one. Vaughn had a game-high five caused turnovers, adding four ground balls. Collignon (six draw controls) and Lane (five) were the game's two draw control leaders.
Winning the game also earned Penn the Ivy League's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs, who were No. 29 in the most recent
NCAA RPI rankings, must hope for an at-large berth. The tournament field, including 15 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large selections, will be announced at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
