NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Off to its best Ivy League start in 20 years (3-0), the Yale women's lacrosse team takes on a new challenge Saturday: the rivalry against Harvard. The Bulldogs host the Crimson at 1:00 p.m. at Reese Stadium (
NESN,
ESPN+,
Live Stats). Yale has split the last two games in the series with Harvard, including a thrilling
16-15 overtime win the last time the teams met at Reese.
Last Game
Yale (7-2, 3-0 Ivy League) snapped Army's 10 game winning streak with a 20-15 win at Reese Tuesday afternoon. Four Bulldogs had hat tricks as Yale improved to 5-0 at home. That was the most goals in a game for Yale since a 21-3 win vs. Quinnipiac Feb. 21, 2017. First-year midfielder
Jenna Collignon (Hinsdale, Ill.) (5-1-6) led Yale in scoring. Senior attacker
Olivia Markert (Centreville, Va.) (4-0-4) had her fourth hat trick of the season, while first-year midfielder
Taylor Lane (Norwalk, Conn.) (3-1-4) and first-year midfielder
Fallon Vaughn (Concord, Mass.) (3-1-4) also had hat tricks.
A Look at the National Poll
Yale has been among the teams receiving votes in the IWLCA national poll for three straight weeks (Mar. 21, Mar. 28, Apr. 4). The Bulldogs thus sit just outside of the national top 25. The Bulldogs' remaining schedule includes No. 5 Stony Brook, No. 12 Princeton and No. 20 UConn.
A Historically Good Start
The Bulldogs' 7-2 start is their best nine-game start to a season since also going 7-2 to start 2003. Yale is 3-0 in Ivy League play for the first time since 2002. That 2002 team opened with wins vs. Penn, Dartmouth and Harvard before falling to Princeton in its fourth Ivy game. The only Yale teams to start 4-0 in Ivy play were the 1995, 1985 and 1984 squads. The last time Yale started a season 8-2 overall was 2002.
Ivy League Tournament History
Yale currently sits atop the
Ivy League standings as the league's only 3-0 team (Princeton is 1-0). Since the Ivy League Tournament began in 2010, there have only been two times that a team with four or more Ivy League wins has not made the tournament (4-3 Princeton in 2012 and 4-3 Brown in 2019). The other 39 times a team won at least four league games, that team made the Ivy League Tournament.
Drawing Up Wins
Yale leads the Ivy League in draw controls per game with 15.44. That ranks 28th in the nation. Three Bulldogs first years – midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo (Alpharetta, Ga.) (4.13, t-6th), midfielder
Taylor Lane (Norwalk, Conn.) (3.33, 9th) and attacker
Jenna Collignon (Hinsdale, Ill.) (2.75, 10th) are among the Ivy's top 10 in draws.
Markert, Penoyer Among Top Four in Ivy League
Senior attacker
Olivia Markert (Centreville, Va.) is third in the Ivy League in goals per game (2.67) and fourth in the league in points per game (3.22). Junior attacker
Olivia Penoyer (Manlius, N.Y.) is second in the Ivy League in assists per game (1.67).
Girls in Sports Day
As part of Yale Athletics' spring Girls in Sports Day celebration, the women's lacrosse broadcast on
ESPN+ will feature an all-female announcer team:
Nicole Daniggelis '16 and
Christine Huber. The day's events also include women's tennis at 12:00 p.m. and track and field at 12:00 p.m. The women's lacrosse game will include free t-shirts for the kids while supplies last, $1 hot dogs and ice cream, and a post-game youth clinic (boys and girls) with several Yale women's varsity teams from various sports. All events for the day include free admission and free parking.
Scouting Harvard
Harvard (4-4, 2-1 Ivy League) has lost three of four since starting the season 3-1. The Crimson lead the Ivy League in goals against average (9.97) and ground balls per game (19.38).
