SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A historic season for the No. 6 Yale women's lacrosse team came to an end Thursday in the NCAA Quarterfinals in the JMA Wireless Dome against No. 3 Syracuse. The Orange jumped out to an 8-1 lead, and while the Bulldogs eventually rallied to get within four they could get no closer. Syracuse scored six of the final seven goals to finish off a 19-9 win and advance to face No. 2 Boston College in the NCAA semifinals next Friday.
Yale finishes 17-3 overall, 7-0 in Ivy League play. The Bulldogs won the Ivy League Championship and the Ivy League Tournament Championship while setting the school record for wins.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
- Junior attacker Jenna Collignon and first-year attacker Karina Herrera led Yale in goals with three each.
- Herrera had a team-best four points. She was 3-for-3 on free position shots.
- Junior midfielder Taylor Lane led Yale with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
- Collignon and Lane tied for the team lead in draw controls with three each.
- Junior goalkeeper Cami Donadio, making her fourth start in a row, made nine saves.
TURNING POINT
- After trailing 8-1, Yale rallied to get within 10-6 on a goal by Collignon with 6:32 to play in the third. But Syracuse got the ensuing draw control and scored just over a minute later. The Orange would not let the Bulldogs get closer than five the rest of the way.
KEY STAT
- Syracuse became just the second team this season to score more than 12 goals against the Yale defense. The Bulldogs had entered the day second in the nation in scoring defense (7.79 goals allowed per game).
NOTES
- Yale had advanced to the quarterfinal round by beating Binghamton 17-4 in the first round last Friday and Johns Hopkins 9-7 in the second round last Sunday. Both games were at Reese Stadium.
- This was Yale's first time playing Syracuse since the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2003, a 12-7 Bulldog win at Johnson Field.
- Yale finishes the season with 17 wins, a school record in that category. Prior to this season the school record was 14 wins, achieved five times.
- Collignon finished with 67 goals for the season, second-best on Yale's single-season record list. Tracy Ball '81 scored 72 goals in 1979.
- Collignon ends the season with a streak of seven straight games with at least three goals.
QUOTABLE
- Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse: "I'm so proud of our team. They fought for the entire game. They put everything out there to compete in this game. I just couldn't be prouder of the women that we have in our locker room."
- Junior attacker Jenna Collignon: "We knew coming into it that they [the Syracuse defense] were going to be very high pressure, especially in the beginning. We just had to figure out how to handle that pressure."
- Bamford on playing without junior midfielder Fallon Vaughn after Vaughn picked up her second yellow card with 1:25 left in the first: "Fallon's a tremendous player. She's had an impact every single game… Our team stepped up and filled those gaps. Karina Herrera went out there, [sophomore attacker] Megan Kitagawa played, was out there controlling the offense. Taylor Lane and [junior midfielder] Sky Carrasquillo stepped up to fill that void in the midfield, and the team just rallied around her. There's unfortunate events that happen in every game, and I'm just proud of the team for how they rallied."
- Senior attacker Chloe Conaghan, Yale's captain: "It's a huge honor to be captain of this program. There's so much leadership across the board from our upperclassmen. Every single senior is such a leader every single day in practice. Leaders like Jenna, like Fallon, like Taylor, like Sky – I've had to rely on them a ton throughout the season. It's definitely not a one-person job. It's a huge honor and something I'll never forget."
WHAT'S NEXT
- Yale has six seniors, and Commencement takes place this coming Monday. The Bulldogs' 17 juniors, six sophomores and eight first years can look forward to returning next season. That group includes 11 of the players who started Thursday's quarterfinal game.
