STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Making a historic third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the No. 18 Yale women's lacrosse team came up against a formidable foe Friday in the first round at Stony Brook's LaValle Stadium. The Bulldogs found themselves matched up with No. 14 Boston College, the team that had eliminated them in the quarterfinals last year.
With seven of the 12 players who started last year's quarterfinal game having graduated, Yale was looking for a different result with a much-different lineup this time around. The Eagles, meanwhile, were intent on preserving the status quo. They have not had their season end in the NCAA Tournament's first round since 2016, and they have won at least two tournament games in every season since then.
Yale was hurt by six turnovers in the first quarter, helping BC to a 3-2 lead heading into the second. The Eagles then scored the first five goals of that quarter to take a commanding lead.
A goal by first-year attacker
Nell Ducey with 37 seconds left in the second gave the Bulldogs some momentum, and first-year attacker
Whitney Froeb converted on a free position at 13:24 of the third to get the Bulldogs within four. But that would be Yale's final goal of the day, and the Eagles tacked on two in the fourth quarter for the 10-4 final.
Yale ends the season with a 13-5 record (6-1 Ivy League). BC improves to 10-7 (6-4 ACC) and will face No. 10 Stony Brook, the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, for a spot in the quarterfinals on Sunday at noon at LaValle Stadium. The Seawolves beat Stonehill 19-5 earlier on Friday.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
- First-year attacker Nell Ducey led Yale with two goals and two points.
- First-year attacker Kate Gould had Yale's lone assist.
- Junior attacker Paris Panagopoulos led Yale with three draw controls.
- Sophomore defender Maggie Bellissimo led Yale with a game-high four caused turnovers.
- First-year midfielder Kaitlyn Roth had a game-high four ground balls.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Niamh Pfaff made three saves.
TURNING POINT
- BC jumped out to an 8-2 lead within the game's first 25:02, and after that the Bulldogs got no closer than within four.
KEY STAT
- Yale tied its season high with 15 turnovers.
QUOTING THE BULLDOGS
- Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse, on the game: "I'm very proud of this team. The result didn't go our way, but they fought really hard. They competed every minute, and they stuck together for the full 60 minutes. So I'm really proud of them and the effort they put forward. "
- Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse, on the team's leadership: "Yale has only one captain per team. We have our captain Emmy Pascal here [at the post-game press conference], who has led a very young team… Every single day she showed up, she competed, supported by her senior class. And I think this year, to win an Ivy championship in the regular season, host the Ivy tournament, play in the NCAA Tournament again... This senior class is part of the winningest four-year period ever at Yale. We lost, from last year, 95% of our draws, 87% of our scoring… if [coming back from] that isn't leadership, I don't know what is. To come back and be in the NCAA tournament, to win a league championship, I'm just really proud of this group."
- Emmy Pascal, on the season as a whole: "I think there's a lot to take from the whole year. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to be on a team with younger girls who are so willing to work hard every single day. They came out to practice every single day willing to give me the best senior year I possibly could have had. I'm really grateful to them for that. I think there's a lot to take from this year. We've had a couple tough losses these past few weeks, and I think that's only going to be used as motivation for them coming in this next August and this next year, both within the Ivy League and for NCAAs. I'm looking forward to watching it."
- Niamh Pfaff, on the team holding BC scoreless for more than 25 minutes from the second quarter into the fourth quarter: "I don't think I had to do very much in those 25 minutes. I think it's a testament to the defense and the entire team. Like Emmy said, always willing to work hard and never stop fighting. Something that I'm definitely going to take away from that game is to see the growth from beginning and throughout. I was proud of how everyone kept fighting."
NOTES
- Yale was making its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the first time in school history that has happened.
- Yale held BC scoreless from the 4:58 mark of the second quarter until the 9:38 mark of the fourth, a span of 25:20.
- Sophomores and first-years accounted for half of Yale's starting lineup.
- All of Yale's goals came from first-years.
- The Eagles are making their 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. They have advanced to eight straight NCAA semifinals and seven of the last eight national championship games, winning championships in 2021 and 2024.
- The members of Yale's senior class conclude their careers with a 57-18 overall record (22-6 in Ivy League games). They are the winningest class in school history:
UP NEXT
- The Bulldogs return 23 players for next season, including 10 who started 10 or more games.
