NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 5 Yale women's lacrosse team executed another postseason comeback on Friday afternoon at Reese Stadium, rallying for a 12-9 win against UAlbany in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Exactly a week after rallying in the fourth quarter to beat then-No. 16 Penn 11-10 in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals, the Bulldogs rallied late again. This time they trailed 8-6 with 14:09 left in regulation on a rainy Friday afternoon. Yale tied the game on an acrobatic goal from sophomore attacker
Ashley Kiernan with 12:55 to play. That marked the first time since the game was tied 3-3 that Yale did not trail. Two goals by senior midfielder
Sky Carrasquillo then gave Yale the lead, and the Bulldogs never looked back.
UAlbany (9-10, 4-2 America East) was making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.
Yale (15-3, 5-2 Ivy League) will face No. 19 Syracuse in the second round on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. with a berth in the NCAA Quarterfinals on the line.
GOALS-ASSISTS-POINTS
OTHER STATISTICAL LEADERS
- Collignon had a team-best five draw controls. Lane added three.
- First-year goalkeeper Niamh Pfaff made four saves.
- Senior defender Becca Gill had a game-best three ground balls.
TURNING POINT
- After UAlbany went ahead 8-6 with 14:09 left in the game, the Bulldogs scored four straight goals and got the draw control after each of the first three.
KEY STAT
- In the fourth quarter, Yale had 10 shots on goal and UAlbany had two.
NOTES
- Yale now has four all-time wins in the NCAA Tournament, with three coming in the last two seasons.
- Yale committed just six turnovers, tying its season low.
- Yale's 15 wins are second-most in school history, trailing only last year's school-record 17.
- The Bulldogs are 20-1 at home in the last two seasons.
- Lane scored her 100th career goal.
- Collignon scored her 60th goal of the season. She has reached the 60 goal mark in back-to-back years, and now has 208 career goals – one shy of tying the school record.
QUOTING THE BULLDOGS
- Erica Bamford, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse: "UAlbany came out with a great gameplan. I am really proud of our team, after competing last weekend at a tough Ivy Tournament, being in finals and preparing for this game, they came out, they competed, they competed with their hearts and I'm just really proud of them."
- Junior defender Emmy Pascal on the team's 16-for-16 performance on clears: "As a defender you think that your job is mostly on one side of the 30, just getting the job done and getting the ball in the hands of the attackers. But such a big part of it is actually getting the ball to them. We just use our speed, our athleticism. We work so well together. If you get stopped, you always have somebody to pass it to. It's credit to how much we work on it in practice, and just how connected we are as a defensive unit."
- Senior midfielder Sky Carrasquillo on overcoming the slow start: "The main message is to stay here, stay grounded. Be where your feet are. I think we came out flat, but we stuck to the gameplan and we got it done."
WHAT'S NEXT
- On Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Reese, Yale will face Syracuse with a berth in the NCAA quarterfinals on the line. The Orange beat No. 21 Brown 15-9 Friday afternoon at Reese in the first round.
