March 31, 2007

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - No. 16 Yale had to wait a year for the chance to respond to the loss that snapped an 11-game winning streak against Harvard. When the Bulldogs' payback did come, it was swift and decisive. Seven straight goals in a seven-minute span midway through the second half broke open the game and propelled Yale to a 17-8 win over its archrival Saturday afternoon at Jordan Field.

Even with the 17-goal performance -- the most goals Yale (8-3, 2-1 Ivy) has scored in over a year -- this was a win that can be credited in large part to the work of junior goalkeeper Ellen Cameron. She made a season-high 14 saves, including eight in the second half, and grabbed a team-high five ground balls.

"She was the difference in the game," said Amanda O'Leary, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. "She made some huge saves, she came up with ground balls and she was really composed on the clears. This was one of the best games we've seen from her this year."

The Crimson (2-6, 0-1 Ivy) actually jumped out to a 3-1 lead in this game, but the deficit could have been much greater were it not for Cameron's work. Her busy day started with a denial of Ali Hines' free-position shot 2:30 in. After Natalie Curtis gave Harvard a 1-0 lead at 25:52, Cameron came up with a big save on another Curtis shot a minute later and sophomore defenseman Jenn Warden grabbed the ground ball.

After a free-position goal from Hines made it 2-0, senior midfielder Lara Melniker got the "0" off Yale's side of the scoreboard when she cut in front and deposited a feed from junior attacker Meredith Callahan at the 21:38 mark.

Cameron continued to keep Yale within striking distance a minute after that. Perry Barlow's spin move in front of the goal freed her up for a shot from point-blank range, but Cameron was able to deny her. Kaitlin Martin had a free-position shot with 17:17 left in the half that Cameron also turned aside, and an interception by junior defenseman Katie Wiacek ended that Crimson possession.

After Sarah Bancroft's free-position goal made it 3-1 the Bulldogs called timeout. Harvard continued to apply offensive pressure, and Sara Flood was wide open in front of the net after a nice pass only to have her shot stopped by Cameron. The Yale netminder made another quick-reaction save on Barlow right before junior midfielder Lauren Taylor pulled the Bulldogs within 3-2 with 10:28 left in the half. The goal extended Taylor's point-scoring streak to 19 games.

That was the start of the first run of the game, as the Bulldogs would rattle off six straight goals. Taylor's free-position goal tied it at 9:23, and less than a minute later Callahan fed junior midfielder Kat Peetz for the go-ahead tally.

Peetz then caused a Crimson turnover, with freshman defenseman Michelle Fiorentino picking up the ground ball, to set up another Taylor goal and force a Crimson timeout with 6:38 left.

The timeout failed to slow down the Bulldogs, and Peetz in particular. She used her quickness to deliver two unassisted goals that made the score 7-3.

Kaitlin Martin finally ended the Yale run by scoring 2:13 before halftime, so even after the 6-0 stretch Harvard was still within striking distance. Caroline Simmons scored 2:05 into the second half to cut Yale's lead to 7-5.

The score stayed that way for over 12 minutes before the Bulldogs made their decisive run, which once again was started by Taylor. After backing down her defender and firing in her fourth goal of the game at the 15:29 mark, she grabbed the draw control and came down to score again 11 seconds later.

The floodgates then opened. Champion chased down the next draw control, and sophomore defenseman Jenn Warden extended her point-scoring streak to 16 games and her goal-scoring streak to 15 games by whipping in a low shot from distance to make it 10-5. Sophomore midfielder Taylor Fragapane scored off an assist from Taylor, and senior attacker Marya Myers and Peetz scored shortly thereafter. Cameron turned aside a free-position shot by Martin before freshman attacker Jessica Sturgill completed the run with an unassisted goal at 8:54.

"We just started to go in transition," said O'Leary of the game-changing scoring streak. "That was something we had prepared for, but in the first half we just weren't doing it."

After Bancroft's goal interrupted the Yale run Myers bounced in a feed from Taylor, giving Myers her third multiple-goal outing in the last four games. It was also Taylor's ninth assist of the year, one more than she had all of last season. Tara Schoen's free-position shot made the score 15-7 before sophomore midfielder Sara Greenberg and Taylor (assisted by Sturgill) responded.

The last goal, Taylor's 43rd of the year, marked the second time this year she has scored six in a game. It also precipitated mass substitutions by the Bulldogs with just over three minutes to play.

While Barlow scored a free-position goal with 1:20 remaining to make the score 17-8, Yale freshman midfielder Sydney Schreppler provided the final highlight of the day by picking off a pass to end the Crimson's final possession. It was a fitting end to a game in which there were contributions from a number of different players. Yale had not scored this many goals in a game since a 19-11 win over Fairfield Mar. 29, 2006. It was also the sixth straight time the Bulldogs held an opponent to nine or fewer goals.

"Lauren scoring the first couple of goals (during the 7-0 run) really got us on the right track," O'Leary said. "Kat had some great looks and started to finish. Jess Champion did a great job of bringing the ball through the midfield. Michelle Fiorentino did a nice job of doubling defensively."

The win keeps Yale in the race for the Ivy League title and also goes a long way toward erasing memories of the 11-8 Harvard win last year that snapped Yale's 11-game winning streak in the series. The Bulldogs did not need to mention that result much in their preparation.

"Obviously we brought it up, but you can't dwell on what happened in the past," said O'Leary. "I'm sure it was in the back of our players' minds that they weren't going to let it happen again, but we had to stay focused on today's game."

Yale travels to Holy Cross Wednesday for a 3:00 p.m. game.

report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity