Friday, 4:00 p.m. at Temple
Sunday, 10:30 a.m. at No. 11 Saint Joseph's
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale field hockey team heads to Philadelphia to start the 2023 season with a pair of non-league games this weekend. The Bulldogs visit Temple Friday (4:00 p.m.,
ESPN+,
International Stream,
Live Stats) and No. 11 Saint Joseph's Sunday (10:30 a.m.,
Live Stats).
LAST TIME
Yale ended the
2022 season with three wins in the final four games to finish 9-8 overall. The Bulldogs went 3-4 in Ivy League play, tied for fifth. The final six games of the season were decided by one goal.
IRON BULLDOGS
Four current Bulldogs started all 17 games last season:
RETURNING FIREPOWER
Returnees this year accounted for more than 70 percent (17 of 24) of Yale's goals last season. Junior forward
Lily Ramsey (Summit, N.J.) tied for the team lead in goals with six.
RANKED OPPONENTS
Yale's schedule includes four games against teams currently ranked in the top 20 of the NFHCA National Coaches Poll:
- Sept. 3 at No. 11 Saint Joseph's
- Sept. 10 at No. 3 Maryland
- Sept. 29 vs. No. 13 Harvard
- Oct. 27 vs. No. 10 Princeton
The Bulldogs' win vs. then-No. 24 Penn on Oct. 22, 2022 marked the Bulldogs' first win vs. a ranked opponent since beating then-No. 23 UMass 1-0 on Oct. 22, 2017.
CORNER EFFECT
Yale was 6-3 last season when it drew more penalty corners than its opponent, 2-4 when its opponent drew more penalty corners, and 1-1 when corners were even.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Yale's roster includes players from six different countries:
- 13 USA
- 6 England
- 1 Canada
- 1 Germany
- 1 The Netherlands
- 1 South Africa
BUSY SUMMER WITH USA FIELD HOCKEY FOR RAMSEYS
The Ramsey sisters – junior forward
Lily Ramsey (Summit, N.J.) and first-year forward
Emma Ramsey (Summit, N.J.) – both earned selection to USA Field Hockey's Nexus Championships this past July. Lily was chosen for the Senior Nexus Championship and Emma was chosen for the Junior Nexus Championship.
Nexus is USA Field Hockey's Olympic Development Pathway Program, and part of the tryout process for the Junior U.S. National Teams. Senior Nexus (formerly High Performance Centers) is for athletes who have enrolled in college or older. Junior Nexus (formerly just Nexus) is for athletes who are 11 years old and older who are not yet enrolled in college.
Emma Ramsey went on to be
chosen for the U-21 Junior Women's National Team Selection Camp, which will take place in January 2024.
Lily Ramsey was an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection last year, tying for the team lead in goals with six and tying for second on the team in points with 12.
BARLOW COMPETES FOR SCOTLAND AGAIN
Junior midfielder/forward
Ellie Barlow (Dunmow, Essex, England) spent a second straight summer competing for Scotland's U21/Development Squad. She competed in a game vs. the Czech Republic in Edinburgh on June 29, then was part of the Scottish U21 Team that played a
series against Ireland in Belfast July 2-6. Barlow's previous national team experience includes helping Scotland's U21 squad go unbeaten (2-0-1) in a series against Ireland in June of 2022. She was also invited to train/play with Scotland's U18 team in 2021.
Barlow has started 33 games in two seasons for Yale, including all 17 last year. She led the team in assists and tied for second on the team in points (4-4-12).
KEYSTONE STATE NATIVE
Yale has one Pennsylvania native on the roster -- junior goalkeeper
Alexa Pitts (Lancaster, Pa.). Pitts was a two-time team captain at Hempfield High, and she was a three-time Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 All-Star.
OFF TO A GOOD START
Last year, in her first season as Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey,
Melissa Gonzalez had more wins than all but one of Yale's previous head coaches had in their first season. Her .529 winning percentage was third-best. Here are all Yale's coaches, ranked by wins in their first season:
1976 Richard Kentwell 10-4-2 (.688)
2022 Melissa Gonzalez 9-8-0 (.529)
1997 Marisa Didio 8-9-0 (.471)
1980 Robin Cash 6-3-5 (.607)
2005 Pam Stuper 6-11-0 (.353)
1984 Diane Moyer 5-7-2 (.429)
1989 Carla Hesler 4-10-1 (.300)
1972 Barbara Bowditch 3-5-0 (.375)
2000 Ainslee Lamb 3-14-0 (.176)
SCOUTING TEMPLE
Temple (2-0, 0-0 Big East) opened its season with a pair of 2-1 wins last weekend, beating La Salle and Bucknell. The Owls are coming off a 2022 season in which they went 13-6, falling to top-seeded Old Dominion in the Big East tournament semifinals. They were ranked No. 24 in the final 2022 NFHCA National Coaches Poll.
SCOUTING No. 11 SAINT JOSEPH'S
Saint Joseph's (2-0, 0-0 Atlantic 10) beat No. 15 UConn 2-0 in the season opener Aug. 25, then beat UMass Lowell 4-0 this past Sunday. The Hawks have outshot their first two opponents 30-17. They went 16-5 last season and 7-0 in the Atlantic 10, winning the conference tournament and then beating Wake Forest 3-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They lost to eventual national champion North Carolina 5-2 in the second round, ending with their best end-of-season coaches poll ranking in program history (No. 11).
