NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 6 Yale women's lacrosse team delivered a decisive victory over Binghamton on home turf in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon, racing past the Bearcats 17-4 at Reese Stadium. The Bulldogs broke open a game that was 8-3 at halftime, outscoring the Bearcats 9-1 in the second half.
The game was tied 2-2 before Yale first-year midfielder
Ashley Kiernan scored a pair of goals – the final one of the first quarter and the first one of the second quarter – to spark a 6-0 Bulldog run. Junior midfielder
Fallon Vaughn also had a pair of goals in that span.
Binghamton ultimately wound up scoring only one goal between the 7:21 mark of the first quarter and the :45 mark of the third quarter (a span of 36:36). By the end of that span Yale had taken an insurmountable 14-3 lead.
Yale improves to 16-2 overall, while Binghamton ends its season 12-7.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
- Junior attacker Jenna Collignon scored a game-best four goals, her fifth straight game with a hat trick.
- First-year attacker Ashley Kiernan had a game-best three assists – a career high – and added three goals.
- Collignon had a game-best 12 draw controls, tying her career high. She has 19 DCs in the last two games.
- Junior defender Molly McGuckin had a game-best three caused turnovers.
- Junior midfielder Fallon Vaughn had a game-best five ground balls.
- Junior goalkeeper Cami Donadio, making her second start in a row, made six saves.
TURNING POINT
- Yale scored four times in a span of 2:16 early in the second quarter to turn a 3-2 lead into a 7-2 lead. Collignon had a pair of draw control wins and a goal in that span.
KEY STAT
- Yale allowed Binghamton only one shot in the third quarter, outscoring the Bearcats 6-1 in that frame.
NOTES
- A total of 10 Bulldogs had at least one point. Eight scored at least one goal.
- Collignon became the first Bulldog to reach the 60 goal mark since Lauren Taylor '08 scored 65 in 2007. The Yale single-season record for goals is 72, set by Tracy Ball '81 in 1979.
- This was Yale's first NCAA Tournament game since 2007.
- This was Yale's second win in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs also won in 2003, 12-7 over Syracuse at Johnson Field.
- This was Yale's 16th win this season, extending the school record in that category. Prior to this season the school record was 14 wins, achieved five times.
- Collignon has 21 goals in the last four games, shooting .700 (21-for-30).
- In the second NCAA Tournament first-round game of the day at Reese Stadium, No. 11 Johns Hopkins beat No. 25 Fairfield 11-5.
WHAT'S NEXT
- Yale will play Johns Hopkins in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Reese Stadium. The winner advances to the quarterfinals, which take place Thursday May 16 at campus sites, and will play the winner of Sunday's game between No. 14 Stony Brook and No. 3 Syracuse in Syracuse.
