March 8, 2008
WESTWOOD, Mass. - With a driving rain and temperatures in the 30s, it certainly did not look like the start of Spring Break Saturday afternoon at Flahive Field for the Yale-BC women's lacrosse game. It took some time for the Bulldogs to get going, but once they did they shut down the Eagles and pulled out an 11-8 win. Senior midfielder Kat Peetz scored five goals, while sophomore attacker Jenna Block and junior midfielder Jenn Warden added a pair of goals each.
Yale trailed 6-3 midway through the first half but held the Eagles to just two goals in the game's final 39 minutes. In a game plagued by turnovers, the Bulldogs converted all six of their clears in the second half after failing on three of eight in the first half.
"It wasn't so much the rain as it was the cold that made ball handling difficult," said Laura Field, Yale's Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. "We had a few shaky transitions at the start, but after that we made sure we had a handle on it."
Yale (3-1) won the opening draw and got a goal from senior attacker Meredith Callahan a minute in. But the Eagles began seizing momentum with a pair of goals from Lauren Costello and Lauren Fitzpatrick. Yale tied it on a goal by Peetz before BC (1-3) tacked on two more goals.
Block converted a feed from senior midfielder Lauren Taylor with 12:39 left in the half. But when the Eagles reeled off another pair of goals the Bulldogs, trailing 6-3, called timeout.
The turnaround started immediately after the timeout, as Taylor got the draw control and Warden scored 30 seconds later. Peetz' free-position goal with two minutes remaining in the half pulled Yale within one heading into halftime.
Senior defender Jess Champion got the draw control to start the second half, and after the teams quickly traded turnovers Warden tied the game at six. Three minutes later, after a Warden free-position shot was stopped, Peetz controlled the rebound and gave Yale its first lead in 30 minutes.
The lead was short-lived, as Emily Hannigan scored on a free-position shot two minutes later. But on Yale's next trip down the field Taylor quickly negated a Bulldog turnover by intercepting a BC pass right in front of the goal and getting the ball to Block, who bounced it in for an 8-7 lead.
This wound up being the second time this season that the Bulldogs won without getting a goal from Taylor, who led the country in goals per game last season.
"Spreading the wealth on offense was the key for us again," said Field. "Lauren Taylor has done a great job of getting her teammates the ball when they need it."
Sophomore attacker Jessica Sturgill's free-position goal with 13 minutes left gave Yale some breathing room, but after Jenna McCabe sailed a free-position shot wide the Eagles maintained possession and got a goal from Fitzpatrick to pull back within one.
BC also got a miraculous save from Katie Monaghan with eight minutes to play. She got her crosse on a free-position shot by Taylor to slow the ball down, then turned around and somehow grabbed the ball in the air before it crossed the goal-line. The Bulldogs kept the pressure on, though. A minute after that save Peetz got the ball 15 meters out and raced through the defense, delivering a goal high into the corner to re-establish Yale's two-goal lead.
After Taylor got the draw control the Bulldogs slowed the game down as the clock ticked under six minutes. Boston College had a pair of trips down to the Yale end of the field disrupted by turnovers caused by freshman defender Kaitlyn Flatley.
"Kaitlyn Flatley has been great for us," Field said. "She has come off the bench and earned the chance to be on the field in situations like that. One of the things we wanted to do as a defense was create turnovers and get the ball going back in the other direction."
Peetz capped the scoring with a goal with 11.5 seconds to play. That tied her career high for goals in a game, set a year ago against the Eagles.
In addition to scoring two goals, Warden also had a pair of draw controls, a pair of ground balls and a caused turnover.
"Kat's speed makes her a huge asset," said Field. "Jenn Warden played great lacrosse at both ends of the field. She worked hard on defense and made an impact on offense."
The Bulldogs won seven of nine draw controls in the second half and outscored the Eagles 6-2.
"Draw controls made the difference in the second half," said Field. "It was those hustle plays where we got to balls. That enabled us to put together some good runs. This is the first game where we were able to string goals together."
Yale senior goalie Ellen Cameron made three saves.
The game was played at Westwood High School's Flahive Field due to the remodeling of BC's Newton Campus Field. Yale, which is on Spring Break, will remain in the Boston area until Wednesday's game at UMass.
report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity