• Last time out, Yale (7-0, 1-0 Ivy League) beat UConn 17-5. First-year midfielder Kate Gould (Nyack, N.Y.) had six goals and seven points, earning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week recognition for her efforts.
• Yale is ranked in three national polls:
  • No. 5 in the ILWomen poll
  • No. 7 in the IWLCA poll
  • No. 5 in the USA Lacrosse poll
• Five of Yale's next six opponents are either ranked or receiving votes in the latest ILWomen national poll. Yale is 1-0 vs. ranked opponents so far this season, having won 11-6 at then-No. 5 Michigan Feb. 28.
• The first-year and sophomore classes have accounted for 75 of Yale's 112 goals this season (67 percent).
• Yale has not trailed since the 3:33 mark of the second game of the season. The Bulldogs had fallen behind to Quinnipiac 3-2 at the 4:55 mark of that game. They tied the game 82 seconds later, took the lead 45 seconds after that and went on to a 15-9 win.
• Yale has allowed a total of only nine goals in the first quarters of games this season.
• Yale is ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense (5.57 goals allowed per game). This comes on the heels of a 2025 season in which Yale finished No. 4 nationally in scoring defense (8.80 goals allowed per game) and a 2024 season in which Yale finished No. 3 nationally in scoring defense (8.35 goals allowed per game).
• Yale is one of five undefeated teams left in the nation:
  • No. 2 Stanford 9-0
  • No. 3 Maryland 8-0
  • No. 4 Navy 8-0
  • No. 1 North Carolina 8-0
  • No. 5 Yale 7-0
• Senior defender Emmy Pascal (Lorton, Va.), Yale's captain, is on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List. She was a third team preseason All-America selection by both ILWomen and USA Lacrosse. Pascal is averaging 2.14 caused turnovers per game (best in the Ivy League and 19th nationally). Pascal interned at Madison Square Garden in Strategies and Business Operations last summer. Her brother Luke is a sophomore midfielder on the Yale men's lacrosse team.
• Sophomore goalkeeper Niamh Pfaff (Garden City, N.Y.) is No. 1 nationally in goals-against average (5.86) and No. 5 nationally in save percentage (.520).
• Sophomore attacker Kelly Holmes (Darien, Conn.) is tied for fifth in the Ivy League in goals (20). With 20 goals and eight assists, she has already quadrupled her point total from last season (one goal, six assists in 13 games).
• First-year midfielder Kate Gould (Nyack, N.Y.) is eighth in the Ivy League in goals (18 and second in the Ivy League in draw controls (41).
• Eight Bulldogs have started all seven games:
  • Junior defender Katie Clare (Bayport, N.Y.)
  • First-year midfielder Whitney Froeb (San Francisco, Calif.)
  • First-year midfielder Kate Gould (Nyack, N.Y.)
  • Junior defender Sydney Grogan (Bedford, N.H.)
  • Sophomore attacker Kelly Holmes (Darien, Conn.)
  • Senior defender Emmy Pascal (Lorton, Va.)
  • Sophomore goalkeeper Niamh Pfaff (Garden City, N.Y.)
  • Senior defender Bella Saviano (Severna Park, Md.)
    Note: Clare, Pascal and Saviano also started every game last season (20 games); Clare has started all 47 games of her career.
• Yale's scores this season against common opponents from last season – when the Bulldogs went 16-4, winning the Ivy League Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament – have been remarkably similar. Here is the list:

  • Opponent	2025 Score	2025 Point Diff.	2026 Score	2026 Point Diff.
    UMass Lowell	16-6	+10	14-4	+10
    Quinnipiac	16-6	+10	15-9	+6
    Michigan	12-6	+6	11-6	+5
    Central Conn. St.	21-0	+18	22-4	+18
    Columbia	17-6	+11	16-6	+10
    UConn	17-8	+9	17-5	+12
    TOTAL		+64		+61

• Yale and Syracuse have developed quite a rivalry in the past two seasons, meeting twice in the NCAA Tournament and once in the regular season. The Bulldogs have won two of those three meetings, beating the Orange 13-10 in the regular season last year and then 9-8 in the NCAA Tournament second round. Both of those games took place at Reese Stadium.
• Prior to Yale's game at Syracuse in the 2024 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals (a 19-9 Orange win), the Bulldogs and the Orange had not met since 2003 (a 12-7 Yale win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament).
• Yale's last win at Syracuse was a 9-8 triumph Apr. 26, 1998.

• Syracuse (5-3, 3-2 ACC) is riding high after knocking off then-No. 4 Northwestern 9-6 last Thursday in Evanston. 
• That was the Orange's fifth win in a row, following an 0-3 start to the season.
• The Orange is 2-3 against ranked opponents this season.

• Yale had won four in a row vs. Brown prior to last season's 14-11 Bears victory in Providence.
• Yale is 11-2 vs. Brown since the start of the 2012 season.

• Brown (3-3, 1-0 Ivy League), which hosts Bryant Tuesday night, has won two in a row – including a 10-6 win vs. then-No. 25 Cornell in the Ivy League opener.
• Brown has scored exactly 10 goals in four straight games. The Bears are 2-2 in those games.

• @YaleWLacrosse on Instagram 
• @YaleWLacrosse on X 

?? Niamh Pfaff keeps the lead intact in the second! #ThisIsYale

Watch ?? https://t.co/KrwVdrVUbs pic.twitter.com/xUEMQNRdIc

— Yale Women's Lacrosse (@YaleWLacrosse) March 14, 2026