NEW YORK – After 14 regular season games, and six Ivy League games, it all came down to the regular season finale Saturday for the No. 22 Yale women's lacrosse team to ensure that its season would continue. Heading into the day, there were
26 different scenarios in play to determine who would make the Ivy League Tournament and what the seeding would be. But at the simplest level, the Bulldogs knew that with a win at Columbia they would earn one of the four spots in the tournament. They thus went out and took care of business on a rainy and windy day at Wien Stadium, dispatching the Lions 19-5, and then began the waiting game to see where they would be seeded in the tournament.
Yale (10-5, 4-3 Ivy League) raced out to a 6-0 lead within the first 11:28, with three different players scoring two goals each – sophomore midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo, sophomore attacker
Jenna Collignon and sophomore midfielder
Taylor Lane. That scoring depth would be a theme for the day.
After Columbia (3-12, 0-7 Ivy League) scored its first goal, four different Bulldogs scored to give Yale a 4-0 run – and a 10-1 lead by the 9:52 mark of the second. Following another Columbia goal, Yale went on a 6-0 run that spanned from the 4:58 mark of the second to 3:55 of the third. That ensured that the clock would remain on running time the rest of the way, and the Bulldogs went on to finish off the win.
A total of 30 Bulldogs saw action Saturday, a fitting way to showcase and reward all of the players who helped Yale get to this point. A dozen players had at least one point, led by a career-high six points (3-3-6) from junior attacker
Chloe Conaghan. Carrasquillo (3-2-5) and Collignon (4-1-5) were next, and senior attacker
Olivia Penoyer added a goal and three assists. Lane (2-0-2), sophomore attacker
Charlotte Callahan (2-0-2) and sophomore midfielder
Fallon Vaughn (0-2-2) rounded out the multiple-point scorers. Sophomore attacker
Caroline Burt, sophomore midfielder
Alex Hopkins, first-year attacker
Megan Kitagawa and sophomore midfielder
Sophie Straka had one goal each, and junior attacker
Bri Carrasquillo had an assist.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Cami Donadio finished with a pair of saves in 45 minutes of work. Junior goalkeeper
Luanna Summer played the fourth quarter and made one save.
Following the game the Bulldogs began keeping track as the various potential scenarios dwindled down based on the results of other Ivy League games. No. 14 Penn beat Dartmouth right around the time that Yale's game ended, and later in the day Brown earned a win at Cornell that eliminated the Big Red from tournament contention. By the time all was said and done for Saturday, the Bulldogs knew they would either be the No. 2 or the No. 3 seed.
Yale will thus play in the first semifinal game next Friday at Penn Park in Philadelphia – the No. 2 seed plays the No. 3 seed at 4:00 p.m. The No. 1 seed (Penn) plays the No. 4 seed at 7:00 p.m.
While Penn has locked up the No. 1 seed, the rest of the final seeding will be determined by the results of Sunday's 12:00 p.m. game featuring Harvard at Princeton. That game airs on ESPNU.
- If Harvard wins, Harvard will be the No. 2 seed, Yale will be the No. 3 seed and Princeton will be the No. 4 seed. Yale will play Harvard in the semis.
- If Princeton wins by 3 or fewer goals, Yale will be the No. 2 seed, Harvard will be the No. 3 seed and Princeton will be the No. 4 seed. Yale will play Harvard in the semis.
- If Princeton wins by 4 or more goals, Yale will be the No. 2 seed, Princeton will be the No. 3 seed and Harvard will be the No. 4 seed. Yale will play Princeton in the semis.
The Ivy League Tournament championship is set for 12:00 p.m. Sunday, with the winner earning the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
All Ivy League Tournament games will be streamed on ESPN+. Tickets go on sale shortly. Complete information is available on the
Ivy League website.
