Box Score Class of 2015 Contributes Five Goals
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The seniors on the Yale women's lacrosse team have been big contributors for all four years, so it was fitting that in their final home game on Saturday at Reese Stadium they delivered some more big numbers: five goals, four ground balls, three caused turnovers and a draw control. And it was a member of the Class of 2015 who got the final Bulldog goal to seal a thrilling Ivy League win over Dartmouth, as midfielder Christina Doherty's tally with 1:58 left gave Yale the necessary cushion for an 8-7 win. Senior goalkeeper Erin Mullins made seven saves to backstop another outstanding defensive effort, as the Bulldogs held an opponent to seven goals or fewer for the fifth straight game.
The Bulldogs started all seven seniors: Doherty, Mullins, midfielder Cathryn Avallone, attacker Kerri Fleishhacker, defender Clare Curran, attacker Erin Magnuson and midfielder Emily Rutland.
"This is a special class," said Anne Phillips, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. "Many of them have played in almost every game of their careers, and have been starters since freshman year. They have just meant a lot to the program, and the fact that we are still in the hunt for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament is no surprise with a senior class like this."
Both teams entered Saturday's game with three losses in league play, adding to the sense of urgency. In the five-year history of the Ivy League Tournament -- which determines the recipient of the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament -- no team with four league losses has ever made it to the postseason.
"It was a must-win game for us, and it was a must-win game for them," said Phillips. "That added to the excitement."
Dartmouth (1-10, 1-4 Ivy League) had just snapped a nine-game losing streak a week ago by handing Cornell its first league loss, and in the early going at Reese Saturday the Big Green grabbed a 2-0 advantage while controlling the ball for much of the game's first 10 minutes.
Yale (7-6, 2-3 Ivy League) answered back in a big way, though. While the defense shut the Big Green out for 15:20, the offense reeled off four goals to take a 4-2 lead. Sophomore attacker Tess McEvoy got the run started with a free position goal at 18:48, and a minute later the Yale defense sparked the play that led to the next goal. Sophomore defender Emily Markham intercepted a Penn pass in the Yale zone, and at the other end of the field freshman midfielder Maggie Pizzo worked a give-and-go to perfection with McEvoy, depositing a feed from McEvoy to tie the game 2-2 at 17:47.
Savvy play from Pizzo then gave Yale the lead. First, she took a pass from Doherty and earned a free position attempt. Then, rather than taking the shot, she passed it to Doherty for the goal that put the Bulldogs ahead 3-2.
That prompted a Dartmouth timeout at 15:59, but Mullins kept momentum in Yale's favor with a save and Avallone got the ground ball. Down at the other end of the field, Fleishhacker blew past a couple Dartmouth defenders and fired in a goal to make it 4-2.
Dartmouth finally got back on the board at 6:52 on a goal by attacker Sarah Byrne, and the Big Green tied the game on a goal by midfielder Samantha Schiff 5:30 before halftime. After one final stand by the Yale defense, the teams headed into halftime knotted 4-4.
"This type of game is typical of the Ivy League," said Phillips. "The parity is there. As we all get late in the season and start to hit our stride, we all play our best. This was a great game, and a physical battle."
The tension mounted as both defenses buckled down at the start of the second half and neither team scored a goal for more than 14 minutes. The Bulldogs had to kill off a pair of yellow cards, and did so thanks to a free position shot that was blocked during the first one and a save by Mullins during the second one.
After calling timeout with 16:28 to play, Yale went on a critical 3-0 run -- and it was kick-started by a pair of seniors. Avallone drove in from the right side for a goal at 16:03 that gave the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead. Less than a minute later Fleishhacker split a double team just inside the fan and notched her team-leading 20th goal of the season.
"Kerri was face-guarded the whole game, but two times she came in and scored," said Phillips. "They were important goals."
Then, 20 seconds after Fleishhacker's goal, freshman attacker Kiwi Comizio set up Pizzo for a goal that made it 7-4 with 15 minutes to play.
That outburst proved crucial as the Bulldogs went into the game's final 12 minutes without one of their best defenders. Shortly after a second yellow card on Markham forced her out of the game with 12:18 to play, Mullins helped keep the Big Green at bay by going low to deny a Big Green free position shot. But after a Dartmouth timeout, midfielder Jaclyn Leto -- whom Markham had been marking -- scored two goals in 45 seconds.
With the Yale lead down to one goal, Dartmouth got the draw control and had possession with a chance to tie. But the Bulldog defense once again came up big, as junior defender Flannery Carney drew a charge with five minutes left.
That was part of a sterling end-game performance by the Yale defense, which figured out a way to control Leto even with Markham out.
"Flannery really stepped up," said Phillips. "She and [sophomore defender] Victoria [Moore] worked together, and were eventually able to contain Jaclyn Leto."
Dartmouth had to deal with a yellow card of its own with 4:40 to play, and started pressuring out shortly after killing off that penalty. With goalkeeper Jessica Frieder out, Doherty scored on the empty net with 1:58 remaining.
The Big Green kept battling back, however, as Byrne got the ensuing draw control. She drove toward goal but was stopped and eventually passed to Leto, who drew a free position attempt and scored to pull Dartmouth within 8-7 with 1:32 left.
The next draw control remained up for grabs as it bounced along the Reese turf for several moments, but Pizzo eventually emerged with the ball from a pack of players and the Bulldogs began running off the final seconds. Yale had one more anxious moment after momentarily losing the ball, but freshman midfielder Madeleine Gramigna scooped it up before any Dartmouth player could get to it.
That was yet another one of the type of quiet contributions that Gramigna made all game long; with Yale's draw control leader -- junior attacker Nicole Daniggelis -- limited by injury, Gramigna came up with a team-leading three draws.
The final seconds thus ticked off the clock with the ball deep in Big Green territory, and Yale celebrated its second straight win in the series -- the first time the Bulldogs have done that against Dartmouth since winning three straight from 2006 through 2008.
With Harvard losing to No. 10 Penn and Cornell losing to No. 14 Princeton on Saturday, fifth-place Yale is now within one game of those two teams (who are tied for third) in the Ivy standings. The Bulldogs play at Penn next Saturday.
Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity
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