NEW HAVEN, Conn. – No. 3 Harvard edged the No. 16 Yale field hockey team 2-1 on a cold and windy night Friday at Johnson Field in the regular season finale. Yale falls to 12-4 overall (4-3 Ivy League), while Harvard improves to 16-0 (7-0 Ivy League).
The Bulldogs now must await the results of Saturday's Ivy League games to learn whether they have earned a spot in the Ivy League Tournament, which features four teams. They currently sit in third place in the Ivy standings, with a half-game lead on No. 18 Brown and Cornell.
If Penn beats Cornell or Dartmouth beats Brown, Yale will earn a spot in the Ivy Tourney.
Those are the most straightforward scenarios, but there are others in which the Bulldogs make the tournament.
A late goal on Friday by the Bulldogs (scored with 1:05 left) may prove critical in determining those last two spots. Should Brown and Cornell both win on Saturday to move to 4-3, goal differential in league games will be the first tiebreaker. Yale is currently +4, while Brown is +3 and Cornell is +2. The Bulldogs will thus also be in if Cornell beats Penn by only one goal, no matter what the result of Brown-Dartmouth is.
Should the three teams wind up tied with 4-3 won-lost records and all have the same goal differential of +4, the NCAA RPI rankings on Sunday will determine who receives the spots in the Ivy League Tournament. As of Friday morning Yale was No. 10, while Brown was No. 14 and Cornell was No. 23.
Summary
- Shots were 3-2 in the scoreless first quarter.
- Harvard went ahead 1-0 on a goal by Sage Piekarski at 27:46 in the second quarter.
- The Crimson extended the lead to 2-0 on another goal from Piekarski, this one assisted by Emily Bronckers at 38:20.
- First-year goalkeeper Amelie Schwarzkopf kept the Bulldogs in the game with several impressive saves, finishing with six for the night.
- Yale scored on a penalty corner with 1:05 to play. Junior forward Ymre Massée inserted to senior back Maddy Zavalick, who stopped it for junior back Hettie Whittington. The goal stood after a long official review.
Notes
- Yale remains tied for the third-most wins in a season in school history with 12. The school record is 15, set in 1998.
- Eight Bulldogs started all 16 regular season games this year:
- Yale is now 5-3 this season in games that have been decided by one goal (including one win in a shootout after two scoreless overtime periods).
- Whittington added to her career highs in goals (nine) and points (26).
- Yale entered the game ranked No. 10 nationally in the most recent NCAA RPI rankings, while Harvard was No. 2. In addition to the 10 auto-bids to the NCAA Tournament, there are eight at-large bids. Selections for that tournament will be announced Sunday, Nov. 9.
Around the Ivy League
- Columbia at No. 5 Princeton, 12:00 p.m. Saturday
- Penn at Cornell, 12:00 p.m. Saturday
- No. 18 Brown at Dartmouth, 1:00 p.m. Saturday
Up Next
- The top four teams make the Ivy League Tournament, which is hosted by the top seed (Harvard) Nov. 7-9. The league's tiebreaking procedure is outlined here.
