Friday, 5:00 p.m. vs. No. 14 Harvard
Sunday, 2:00 p.m. at No. 17 UMass
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale field hockey team faces a pair of nationally ranked opponents this weekend. The Bulldogs host archrival No. 14 Harvard Friday at 5:00 p.m. (
ESPN+,
International Stream,
Live Stats) and then head to No. 17 UMass on Sunday for a 2:00 p.m. game (
ESPN+,
Live Stats).
LAST WEEKEND
Yale (3-5, 0-1 Ivy League) split a pair of weekend road games,
falling at Penn 3-2 in the Ivy League opener on Friday and rebounding to earn a
come-from-behind 2-1 win in the rain at Quinnipiac Sunday.
HITTING THE ROAD
The game against No. 14 Harvard on Friday is Yale's lone home game in a 25 day span. The Bulldogs have not played at Johnson Field since a
3-1 win vs. Sacred Heart Sept. 17, and will not be back until Oct. 13 against Dartmouth.
PITTS EARNS FIRST WIN
Junior goalkeeper
Alexa Pitts (Lancaster, Pa.) came on in relief to play the final 53:26 and earn her first career win Sunday. It was Pitts' first appearance in a game since playing 4:24 Sept. 3, 2021, the only other appearance of her career so far. She made three saves, including a kick save on a Bobcat penalty corner with 6:30 to play to preserve the lead, as Yale won 2-1.
CAPTAIN KIM
Senior forward/midfielder
Ashley Kim (Fredericksburg, Va.) has three goals and 12 shots in the last three games, including the first game-winner of her career. With six points this season, she is one point away from matching her career high in that category (3-1-7 in 2021). Kim, elected Yale's 2023 captain by her teammates, has seven career goals and three career assists.
BEALES STREAK SNAPPED AT FOUR
Sophomore forward
Poppy Beales (King's Lynn, Norfolk, England) had her streak of consecutive games with a goal snapped at four on Sunday. She leads the Bulldogs in goals and points (4-0-8) and has already matched her goal total from last season (four in 15 games).
STATS FOR STAADECKER
Junior back
Colette Staadecker (Weybridge, Surrey, England) had an assist in each game last weekend, the first assists of her career. She has started the last seven games, the first starts of her Yale career.
LILY RAMSEY HEATING UP
Coming off an honorable mention All-Ivy League season last year in which she scored six goals, junior forward
Lily Ramsey (Summit, N.J.) has been starting to heat up recently. Limited to just two shots in the first five games, she has 11 shots in the last three – including her first goal of the season, last Friday at Penn. After taking a long pass from her sister, first-year forward
Emma Ramsey (Summit, N.J.), she dribbled into the circle, cut across past a Penn defender and knocked the ball in.
HALFWAY POINT
The Bulldogs have reached the halfway point of the regular season, having played eight of 16 games. Yale went 4-4 in the final eight games last season, including wins in three of the final four games.
BALANCING THE ATTACK
The last five games have seen a dramatic change on attack for the Bulldogs. Their shots per game and goals per game are both up significantly, and the number of players averaging more than one shot per game has quadrupled. Here is a breakdown:
| Yale on the Attack |
First Three Games |
Last Five Games |
| Goals Per Game |
0.67 |
2.00 |
| Shots Per Game |
4.0 |
12.4 |
| Players averaging more than one shot per game |
1 |
4 |
IRON WOMEN
Senior goalkeeper
Luanna Summer (St. Louis, Mo.) has extended her streak of consecutive games started to 44, dating back to the start of the 2021 season. Junior back
Keely Comizio (New Vernon, N.J.) has the longest starting streak on the team among field players. She has started 37 straight games, dating back to her first career start Sept. 25, 2021.
RIVALRY SPREADS ACROSS THE POND
The Yale-Harvard game on Friday will feature 11 players from England – six for Yale, five for Harvard. Two English secondary schools have at least one player on each team:
Repton School
- Yale junior midfielder/forward Ellie Barlow (Dunmow, Essex, England)
- Harvard sophomore defender Bronte-May Brough
Wellington College
- Yale junior back Colette Staadecker (Weybridge, Surrey, England)
- Yale first-year midfielder Sophie Thompson (Cobham, Surrey, England)
- Harvard junior midfielder Emily Guckian
ALUM WEEKEND
The Bulldogs hosted Alum Weekend earlier this month, with alums invited back and recognized at both games. In addition to other events for alums, families and friends, the weekend marked the debut of the Celebrating Yale Field Hockey at 50 Years video, produced by
Jan Seeley '82 and directed by videographer Amanda Baker. The video can be viewed
here.
AROUND THE IVY LEAGUE
No. 20 Cornell and No. 14 Harvard enter the weekend at 2-0 in Ivy League play, while Penn and Princeton are 1-0 to round out the top four in the standings. This weekend's league games are:
Friday, Sept. 29
4:00 p.m. Penn at Columbia
4:00 p.m. No. 20 Cornell at Princeton
5:00 p.m. No. 14 Harvard at Yale
Saturday, Sept. 30
12:00 p.m. Brown at Dartmouth
SCOUTING No. 14 HARVARD
No. 14 Harvard (5-3, 2-0 Ivy League) has outscored its first two Ivy opponents, Brown and Dartmouth, 5-0 – outshooting them 26-6 in the process. The Crimson rank No. 15 in the nation in goals-against average (1.18).
SCOUTING UMASS
UMass (6-4, 2-0 Atlantic 10), which plays a conference game Friday afternoon at VCU, is 1-3 against nationally ranked teams and 5-1 against unranked teams this season. The Bulldogs' last win against the Minutewomen came on the road in 2017, a
1-0 victory highlighted by nine saves from
Sydney Terroso '21 and a goal from
Olivia Levieux '21. UMass was ranked No. 23 in the country at the time.
