NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 11 Yale men's lacrosse team continues to earn well-deserved recognition, as the Bulldogs were unanimously named 2026 NEILA Division I champions, as announced by the organization on Monday afternoon. Yale received all first-place votes and is the lone remaining New England team playing in the NCAA tournament.
 
The Bulldogs, who earned an at-large bid to the national stage, will face No. 8 Syracuse (No. 6 seed) in the first round of the tournament on Sunday, May 10 at 5 p.m. Yale enters with a 9–5 overall record, including a 4–2 mark in Ivy League play.
 
After opening the season 3–4 overall (0–2 Ivy), a young Yale roster, featuring 13 first-years, found its stride under Head Coach Andy Shay, winning six of its next seven games to surge into postseason contention. That pivotal stretch was fueled by signature victories over No. 9 Cornell (13–12), No. 5 Harvard (15–9), and No. 18 Boston University (16–11), establishing the Bulldogs as a top team in the nation down the stretch.
 
Yale's late-season push secured the No. 3 seed in the Ivy League Tournament and ultimately an NCAA berth, its first since 2023. Most recently, the Bulldogs pushed Princeton, the Ivy League champion and the nation's No. 1 seed, to the brink in a narrow 12–10 loss in the league tournament semifinals on Friday evening.