NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The NCAA Tournament begins Friday for the No. 6 Yale women's lacrosse team. The Bulldogs host Binghamton in the first round (1:00 p.m.,
ESPN+,
Live Stats,
Tickets). The winner advances to Sunday's second-round game against either No. 22 Fairfield or No. 12 Johns Hopkins – those two teams play at 4:00 p.m. Friday at Reese.
Yale is the No. 6 seed in the tournament. The Bulldogs won the Ivy League Championship outright for the first time, finishing the regular season 7-0 in Ivy games. They also won the Ivy League Tournament for the first time.
Yale's NCAA Tournament History
Yale has made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament in school history, posting a 1-3 record.
- 1984: Lost vs. UMass 6-5 in OT in first round
- 2003: Won vs. Syracuse 12-7 in first round; lost at Loyola (Md.) 13-7 in quarterfinals
- 2007: Lost at Maryland 13-7 in first round
Last Game
Yale (15-2, 7-0 Ivy League)
beat Penn 10-9 Sunday in overtime to win the Ivy League Tournament for the first time in school history. The Bulldogs trailed 9-5 after a Quakers goal with 9:09 to play, but they shut Penn out the rest of the way. Junior attacker
Jenna Collignon (Hinsdale, Ill.) delivered the game-tying goal with six seconds left in regulation, and junior midfielder
Taylor Lane (Norwalk, Conn.) scored the game-winner with eight seconds left in overtime.
Ivy League All-Tournament Team
Five Bulldogs were named to the Ivy League All-Tournament Team:
Collignon, Vaughn Earn USA Lacrosse All-America Honors
Yale had two individuals honored by USA Lacrosse on Thursday as the organization announced its All-America awards:
- Junior midfielder Fallon Vaughn (Concord, Mass.) was named third team All-America
- Junior attacker Jenna Collignon (Hinsdale, Ill.) was named honorable mention All-America
This is the second straight season Yale has had at least one player honored as a USA Lacrosse All-American. Last year,
Olivia Penoyer '23 was an honorable mention USA Lacrosse All-America selection.
Ivy League Title History
With a
21-8 win at Cornell Apr. 20, Yale clinched at least a share of the 2024 Ivy League Championship. The Bulldogs then won the title outright for the first time in school history by
beating Columbia 15-8 Apr. 27 at Reese Stadium to finish with a 7-0 Ivy League record.
The Bulldogs have won the Ivy League title two other times:
- 1980 (4-0-2 in Ivy League play, shared title with Penn)
- 2003 (6-1 in Ivy League play, shared title with Dartmouth and Princeton)
Yale's Best Ivy League Seasons
- This season Yale went 7-0 in Ivy League games for the first time in school history.
- Yale won six Ivy League regular season games in a season four times. The 2003, 2007 and 2022 teams all finished 6-1 in Ivy games.
- Yale has gone undefeated against Ivy League opponents in the regular season three times – all before the league went to a seven-game schedule. The 1976 team finished 3-0 against Ivy opponents and the 1978 team finished 4-0-1 against Ivy opponents. In 1980 – the first year the Ivy League recognized an Ivy League Women's Lacrosse Champion – the Bulldogs went 4-0-2 and shared the title with Penn.
Vaughn Named Ivy Midfielder of the Year, Wright Academic All-Ivy and Bamford Ivy Coach of the Year; Eight Earn All-Ivy
Yale had 10 individuals honored by the Ivy League as the league announced its annual awards.
- Junior midfielder Fallon Vaughn (Concord, Mass.) was named Midfielder of the Year unanimously.
- Junior defender Marymegan Wright (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) was named Academic All-Ivy League.
- Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse, was named Ivy League Coach of the Year unanimously.
Four Bulldogs earned first team All-Ivy League recognition:
Penn was the only other Ivy League school with four first-team selections.
Two Bulldogs earned second team All-Ivy recognition:
Two Bulldogs earned honorable mention All-Ivy recognition:
Yale's Best
Yale's 15 wins this season are the Bulldogs' most in a season in program history. The previous record for wins in a season is 14 (1978, 1979, 1995, 1999, 2003).
Defense Among Best in the Nation
Yale ranks fourth nationally in scoring defense (8.06 goals allowed per game). Michigan (6.88 goals allowed per game) leads the nation. Individually, Yale first-year goalkeeper
Laura O'Connor (Greenwich, Conn.) ranks sixth nationally in goals-against average (8.58). Michigan's Erin O'Grady is the NCAA leader at 6.68.
A Veteran Coaching Staff
This is Yale's ninth 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 seventh and eighth years, respectively.
NCAA Tournament
NCAA Tournament selections for 2024 were announced this past Sunday night. The 29 team field includes 15 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large selections. The 15 conferences with automatic bids include:
- American Athletic Conference
- America East Conference
- ASUN Conference
- Atlantic 10 Conference
- Atlantic Coast Conference
- Big East Conference
- Big South Conference
- Big Ten Conference
- Coastal Athletic Association
- The Ivy League
- Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
- Mid-American Conference
- Northeast Conference
- Pac-12 Conference
- Patriot League
The three top overall seeds earn a first-round bye, with the remaining 26 teams playing first-round games at campus sites on Friday May 10 (between 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.). The second round (May 12) and quarterfinal round (May 16) take place at campus sites as well.
The semifinals and championship game will be played on May 24 and 26 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
Scouting Binghamton
Binghamton (12-6, 5-1 America East) has won eight in a row – the sixth-longest winning streak in the nation. The Bearcats earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament by beating top-seeded Albany 12-11 in the America East Championship last Sunday. They rank 19th nationally in draw controls per game (15.83)
Friday Weather Forecast for New Haven
From the
National Weather Service: Rain. High near 57. East wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
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