April 28, 2005
The Yale women's lacrosse team was on the winning end of yet another nail biting game, as freshman Katherine Peetz scored a goal with 25 seconds left to break a 9-9 tie, giving Yale the win over No. 15 Connecticut. The Huskies fall to 10-5 on the season while Yale improves to 10-6 in what was their final contest of the 2005 regular season.
The two teams traded goals for much of the first half. Lauren Taylor got Yale on the board initially, with a goal at 1:56, however it was answered less than two minutes later with a goal by UConn's Tammy Michel. Katherine Sargent put Yale back on top at 8:19, but UConn again knotted the score with 20 minutes left to play in the first half.
Three consecutive UConn goals in the late second half gave the Huskies a 5-3 lead with just nine minutes remaining in the half, but Taylor and Sargent both were able to add goals to knot the score at 5-5. UConn's Dana Stewart was able to get a shot past Bulldog goalie Lonnie Sarnell with 4 minutes left in the half to give UConn a 6-5 lead after the first 30.
UConn came out strong at the beginning of the second half, and it appeared that they might be able to run away with the game, after Claire Schwan and Shannon Burke both added Huskie goals just two minutes into the second 30 minutes of play.
It was Yale's two offensive leaders who would get the Bulldogs back in the game. Taylor scored two consecutive goals and Sargent added another 12:40 into the second half that would put the Bulldogs back up 9-7, a lead they would maintain until there were 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Kristen Link of UConn scored unassisted at 50:20 to draw the Huskies to within a goal and McHugh completed a rare two-goal effort as the scoreboard showed 3:33 to play. Each team had scoring chances inside of three minutes before Peetz, playing in just her sixth collegiate game, found the net on a broken play at 59:35, slipping a low shot past Kristen Haldeman in the Husky net.
Sarnell played all 60 minutes in goal for the Bulldogs and had 10 saves. Defensively, Yale was led by its experienced class of seniors, Kira Licata (1 ground ball, 1 caused turnover), Lisa Renidl (1 ground ball, 2 draw controls), Kerry Docherty (2 ground balls), and Meredith Mack (1 ground ball).
The game ended the regular season for the Bulldogs, who are now a bubble team for the 2005 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament. The team should know by next week whether or not their season will continue.
Report filed by: Emily Field, Yale Sports Publicity
