NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Building on a 2025 season that saw the team end the campaign ranked No. 12 in the NFHCA poll, the Yale field hockey team will take on some of the top teams in the country in 2026. The Bulldogs' schedule was announced today. The 16-game regular season (seven Ivy League games, nine non-league games) includes seven games against teams that ended last season ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA RPI.
The Bulldogs open the campaign Sept. 4 at home against local rivals Sacred Heart – the first of six straight home games to start the season. The Ivy League portion of the schedule starts Sept. 18 vs. Brown at Johnson Field. The Ivy League Tournament, which features the top four teams in the regular season standings competing for the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, takes place Nov. 6 (semifinals) and Nov. 8 (championship) at the site of the No. 1 seed.
This is the Bulldogs' fifth season with
Melissa Gonzalez as Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey.
Kerry Kiddoo returns as assistant coach, and
Hannah Tepper has joined the staff as an assistant coach. Rising senior back
Hettie Whittington (Guildford, England) is the team captain.
The Bulldogs return 14 players from last season, when Yale made the Ivy League Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. That was the first time in school history that the Bulldogs made those tournaments.
Here is a breakdown of the schedule for 2026:
The Basics
- Yale's regular-season schedule consists of 16 games. There are seven Ivy League games (vs. Brown, vs. Columbia, vs. Cornell, at Dartmouth, at Harvard, vs. Penn and at Princeton) and nine non-league games.
- The schedule includes nine home games and seven road games.
- Yale plays games in six different states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Vermont).
- The schedule includes nine non-conference games, and five different conferences are represented:
- Sept. 4 vs. Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference)
- Sept. 6 vs. UAlbany (America East)
- Sept. 11 vs. Fairfield (Coastal Athletic Association)
- Sept. 13 vs. UC Davis (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation)
- Sept. 27 at Hofstra (Coastal Athletic Association)
- Oct. 4 at Monmouth (Coastal Athletic Association)
- Oct. 11 vs. Temple (Big East)
- Oct. 18 at Vermont (America East)
- Oct. 25 at Quinnipiac (Northeast Conference)
- Live stats and video of all home games, and road games where applicable, will be available via links on yalebulldogs.com. Home games and select road games will be streamed on ESPN+.
- The schedule is subject to change. Check yalebulldogs.com for updates.
Strength of Schedule
- The Bulldogs play seven teams that ended last season ranked in the top 25 in the NCAA RPI rankings (Yale was No. 12): No. 2 Princeton, No. 4 Harvard, No. 15 Penn, No. 16 Brown, No. 17 Monmouth, No. 20 Cornell, No. 22 Temple.
- The Bulldogs play five teams that ended last season ranked in the top 20 in the NFHCA poll (Yale was No. 12): No. 3 Princeton, No. 4 Harvard, No. 15 Monmouth, No. 18 Brown, No. 20 Fairfield.
- Three of Yale's opponents played in the 2025 NCAA Field Hockey Tournament: Fairfield (advanced from opening round to first round before losing), Harvard (advanced to semifinals before losing), Princeton (advanced to national championship game before losing).
Dates to Celebrate
- Sept. 4 is the team's Pride Game.
- Sept. 6 is the team's Morgan's Message Game.
- Sept. 13 is the team's Dream Crazy Game.
- Yale Field Hockey Alum Weekend is Sept. 26, with a home game vs. Cornell. Further details about that weekend will be announced later.
- On Oct. 9 Yale will celebrate Senior Day, as the Bulldogs pay tribute to the members of the Class of 2027:
- Oct. 11 is the team's Breast Cancer Awareness Game.
Postseason
- The Ivy League Tournament takes place at the site of the No. 1 seed and includes the top four teams in the regular season standings. Semifinals take place Friday Nov. 6 and the tournament championship game is Sunday Nov. 8.
- NCAA Tournament competition starts with opening round games Nov. 11 (featuring the four lowest automatic-qualification teams). The field includes 10 automatic qualifiers -- including a spot for the Ivy League Tournament champion -- and eight at-large selections. The first- and second-round games take place at campus sites Nov. 13 and 15. The winners of those series advance to the semifinals on Nov. 20. The championship is Nov. 22. The semis and championship are hosted by Louisville at Trager Stadium.
