NEW HAVEN, Conn. – After tying her career high with 11 saves in No. 10 Yale's 7-4 win vs. Penn last Saturday, sophomore goalkeeper
Niamh Pfaff (Garden City, N.Y.) has been named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week. The league announced the award Monday afternoon. Pfaff has now won the award two times this season.
Pfaff and the Yale defense held Penn to its lowest goal total since Mar. 4, 2017. That included holding the Quakers scoreless for a stretch of 34:13 as the Bulldogs rallied from an early 3-1 deficit to take a 6-3 lead en route to the win.
Loyola (Md.) is the only other team to hold Penn to fewer than nine goals this year (Feb. 28, a 10-8 Loyola win).
Pfaff is the backbone of a Yale defense that ranks No. 2 in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 6.54 goals per game. She is second in the nation in goals-against average (6.89) and second in the nation in save percentage (.521).
Pfaff was an honorable mention All-America selection at Garden City High School, where she helped the team to the Class B Long Island Championship in 2023.
Saturday's win clinched a spot in the Ivy League Tournament for Yale (11-2, 5-0 Ivy League). The Bulldogs host Harvard Saturday at noon in the next-to-last game of the regular season.
Yale Women's Lacrosse Ivy League Players of the Week 2026
Feb. 23
Kate Gould, Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week
Mar. 2
Niamh Pfaff, Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week
Mar. 16
Kate Gould, Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week
Mar. 23
Emmy Pascal, Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week
Apr. 13
Niamh Pfaff, Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week
