April 5, 2006
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Ellen Cameron made seven saves to help Yale to a 12-3 win over Holy Cross Wednesday afternoon at Johnson Field. In coming up with the dominating defensive effort, the Bulldogs tied the mark for the fewest goals they have allowed in a game in the last five seasons. Kat Peetz and Lauren Taylor scored four goals each to lead the Yale offense.
Holy Cross (8-4) grabbed a 1-0 lead four minutes in on a goal by Patricia Sutton, but it would be over 30 minutes before the Crusaders bested Cameron again. A turnover enabled the Bulldogs (6-5) to tie the game at the 18:53 mark, with Meredith Callahan setting up Sara Greenberg for the freshman's ninth goal of the year.
After over nine scoreless minutes for both teams, the Bulldogs finally took the lead when Taylor snuck one past Megan Orr (20 saves) off an assist from Peetz at 9:27. The next goal came only eight seconds later when Lara Melniker got the draw control and set up Taylor for her second goal.
That was just the beginning of what turned into a six-goal spurt by the Bulldogs in the final 10 minutes of the half. Peetz scored off a Greenberg assist with 8:30 left, then added another one at 5:54. Linden Ellis got the draw control after that goal, leading to a Taylor tally only 29 seconds later. Taylor then got the next draw control, enabling Lindsay Levin to find Peetz for Yale's third goal in a 44-second span.
The Bulldogs thus went into halftime with a commanding 7-1 lead.
"It took our offense a little while to get going," said Amanda O'Leary, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. "We were generating shots, but their goalie played really well. A couple fell, and after that we felt a little more comfortable."
Sutton hit the post on a free-position shot two minutes into the second half, but two minutes after that Kristine Corkum was finally able to end Holy Cross' dry spell. Her goal at 24:55 snapped a scoreless streak of 31:21 by the Yale defense.
Melniker responded with a free-position goal three minutes later, and after Carolyn Smirti pulled the Crusaders within five Melniker tacked on another. Taylor, Peetz and Ellis closed out the scoring for the Bulldogs. Taylor now has an Ivy League-best 34 goals and 38 points on the year.
The three-goal total was Holy Cross' lowest since April 19, 2004. The Crusaders had entered the game averaging over 12 goals per game.
"Defensively we played really well," O'Leary said. "Lisa McKenna did a really good job coming in. Lindsay Levin was huge in transition for us, getting the ball up. Taylor [Fragapane] playing both ways -- I can't say enough about her. Katie Wiacek did a great job. She slid on a couple plays that I thought were sure goals."
Yale won 12 of 17 draw controls on the day and was successful on 18 of 19 clears. The Bulldogs also picked up 23 ground balls, led by five from Wiacek, to just 15 for Holy Cross. Cameron and the defense limited the Crusaders to a 1-for-6 performance on free-position shots.
The last time Yale held an opponent to just three goals was April 14, 2004, an 18-3 win over Columbia. This marked only the third time in the last 83 games that the Bulldogs have held a team under four goals.
Yale returns to Ivy League play on Saturday (2 p.m.) at No. 8 Princeton.
report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity
