NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 16 Yale women's lacrosse team had six players and the coaching staff honored by the Ivy League on Tuesday as the league announced its annual awards. Here is the list:
- Senior defender Emmy Pascal (Lorton, Va.) was named Defender of the Year
- First-year attacker Kate Gould (Nyack, N.Y.) was named Rookie of the Year
- Yale's staff was named Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year:
- Senior attacker Ashley Newman (Manhasset, N.Y.) was named Academic All-Ivy League
Two Bulldogs earned first team All-Ivy League recognition:
Two Bulldogs earned second team All-Ivy recognition:
One Bulldog earned honorable mention All-Ivy recognition:
Yale's honorees have led the Bulldogs to a memorable season that included the fourth overall and second outright Ivy League Championship in program history (the Bulldogs shared the Ivy title in 1980 and 2003, then won it outright in 2024 and this season). The team went 6-1 in Ivy League play. The Bulldogs' 12 overall wins are tied for ninth-most in school history; the team has won 11 or more games for five straight years. This year that included a seven-game winning streak to start the season.
The Bulldogs have been ranked as high as No. 5 in the ILWomen national poll, and they are the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Ivy League Tournament. They will play the No. 4 seed, Brown, in the semifinals Friday at 4:00 p.m. at Reese Stadium.
The All-Ivy League team is determined by a vote of the league's eight head coaches. It is based on performance in Ivy League games.
Here is a look at Yale's honorees:
Katie Clare
This is the first All-Ivy honor for Clare. A starter for all 55 games of her career, she has established a career high with 24 caused turnovers this season. She is tied for fourth in the Ivy League in that category. Her 27 ground balls are tied for her career high and rank 10th in the Ivy League.
Clare had 16 ground balls in Ivy League games, tied for fifth in the league. She had 15 caused turnovers in Ivy League games, third in the league. That included five in a game twice — the most by an Ivy player in a league game this season. Clare was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after notching five CTs in Yale's 14-13 win vs. Harvard on Apr. 18.
Clare is a graduate of Bayport-Blue Point. She played for the Long Island Yellow Jackets.
Kate Gould
Gould is the first Yale women's lacrosse player to earn Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors since
Katie Sargent '05 in 2002.
Gould's honors this season include selection to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List and being named third team ILWomen Midseason All-America. She was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week Feb. 23, 2026 and Mar. 16, 2026.
Gould is fourth in the Ivy League in draw controls overall (66), seventh in the Ivy League in points overall (60), eighth in the Ivy League in assists overall (26) and is tied for eighth in the Ivy League in goals overall (34). That includes 13 assists (tied for third in the league) and 27 points (fifth in the league) in Ivy League games. She has 31 draw controls in Ivy League games, fourth in the league. Gould leads the team in shooting percentage (.507) and currently has a nine-game goal scoring streak. She has at least one point in every game this season, and had multiple points in six of the seven Ivy League games – including four Ivy games with four or more points.
Gould had five goals and seven points in Yale's 14-13 win vs. Harvard Apr. 18. She had 11 draw controls in Yale's 16-6 win vs. Columbia Mar. 7 and eight draw controls in Yale's 16-8 win at then-No. 19 Princeton Mar. 28.
Gould is a graduate of Nyack High School. She played for Prime Time.
Ashley Kiernan
This is the first All-Ivy honor of Kiernan's career. She has established career highs in goals (29) and points (47). She had 11 assists in Ivy League games, seventh in the league. She is second on the team in assists (18) and third on the team in points (29-18-47). She had four or more points in an Ivy game four times, including a season-high five points (4-1-5) in the 11-8 win at Dartmouth Apr. 4. She scored at least one goal in every game this season and has a 16 game goal-scoring streak dating back to last season. Kiernan had multiple points in six of the seven Ivy League games this season.
Kiernan is a graduate of Chatham High School. She played for Steps 2023 Blue.
Emmy Pascal
Pascal becomes the first Bulldog to earn Ivy League Defender of the Year (the award debuted in 2013). She has earned All-Ivy League honors for three straight seasons (first team this year and in 2024; second team in 2025).
Yale's captain, Pascal is a Tewaaraton Award nominee (best college women's lacrosse player; she is one of 25 nominees). She has been on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List for two seasons. So far this season she has been named second team ILWomen Midseason All-America, third team ILWomen Preseason All-America and third team USA Lacrosse Preseason All-America. She was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week Mar. 23, 2026.
Pascal has started all 15 games for a Yale defense that currently ranks No. 3 nationally in scoring defense (7.27 goals allowed per game). She is second in the Ivy League in caused turnovers (30) and tied for fourth in the Ivy League in ground balls (35). She has 19 ground balls in Ivy League games, third in the league. She has 12 caused turnovers in Ivy League games, tied for fifth in the league. Pascal had a career-high seven ground balls in Yale's 7-4 win vs. Penn Apr. 11, tied for the most by anyone in an Ivy game this season. She had a career-high (tie) four caused turnovers in a game twice this season, including one Ivy game – Yale's 16-8 win at then-No. 19 Princeton Mar. 28. She had a streak of 12 straight games with at least one ground ball Feb. 21 through Apr. 18. She had four Ivy League games with two or more caused turnovers.
With Pascal leading the defense, the Bulldogs held five of their seven Ivy League opponents to eight or fewer goals. Pascal is also a critical part of Yale's clears; the Bulldogs currently rank No. 9 nationally and No. 1 in the Ivy League in clears (.927).
Last season Pascal was an honorable mention USA Lacrosse All-America selection. She was first team IWLCA All-Northeast Region and second team All-Ivy League. An economics major, she earned IWLCA Academic Honor Roll selection.
In 2024 Pascal was third team IWLCA All-America and first team IWLCA All-Northeast Region.
Pascal has appeared in 71 games, all starts, in her career.
Pascal is a graduate of St Stephen's & St. Agnes. She played for 22 Blue, Sky Walkers.
Niamh Pfaff
This is the first All-Ivy honor of Pfaff's career. She has started all 15 games this season, achieving significant improvements from year-to-year in both her goals-against average (from 8.73 last year to 7.91 this year) and her save percentage (from .419 last year to .488 this year).
She has earned multiple honors this season, including a spot on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List. She was named second team ILWomen Midseason All-America. Her weekly honors include IWLCA Defensive Player of the Week (Mar. 3) and Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week (twice – Mar. 2, and Apr. 13).
Pfaff is second in the Ivy League and 10th nationally in goals-against average overall. She is second in the Ivy League and 12th nationally in save percentage. Her 9.11 goals-against average in league games ranks second.
Pfaff is a graduate of Garden City High School. She played for 2024 Black, Liberty Lacrosse.
Yale Coaching Staff (Erica Bamford, Colleen Smith, Molly Palella, Brooklyn Neumen)
Bamford was named the Bulldogs' head coach in 2015. Smith joined the staff a year later, and Palella joined a year after that. Neumen joined for the 2025 season.
The Bulldog staff led the team to this year's Ivy League title outright, surpassing the expectation of the league's preseason poll (in which Yale was picked for third). That continues a run of success that includes Ivy League regular season titles in 2024 and 2026 and Ivy League Tournament titles in 2024 and 2025. Yale has won two NCAA Tournament games and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons.
Nationally Yale ranks No. 3 in scoring defense (7.27), No. 2 in fewest turnovers per game (10.47) and No. 12 in winning percentage (.800). The Bulldogs are No. 9 nationally in clearing percentage (.927).
Major Ivy League Awards
Yale Women's Lacrosse History
Ivy League Player of the Year (1981-2012)
2007
Lauren Taylor
Ivy League Rookie of the Year (1981-2012, 2025-present)
1988 Amy Whitaker
1990 Eva Vishio
1997 Heather Bentley
1999 Amanda Walton
2001 Miles Whitman
2002 Katie Sargent
2026
Kate Gould
Ivy League Midfielder of the Year (2013-present)
2024
Fallon Vaughn
Ivy League Defender of the Year (2013-present)
2026
Emmy Pascal
Ivy League Coach of the Year (2015-2024)
2024
Erica Bamford
Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year (2025-present)
2026
Erica Bamford,
Colleen Smith,
Molly Palella,
Brooklyn Neumen
