After falling to Penn State in overtime on March 2, the Elis made a comeback with victories against Denver, ranked No. 1 at the time, and Harvard, while dropping a game to Cornell last weekend.
The now No. 11 Bulldogs (4–2, 1–1 Ivy) began their spring break with a decisive 15–13 win against No. 10 Denver (6–2, 0–0 Big East) on March 10, who was ranked No. 1 at the time. Yale continued their strong play through the next weekend, beating No. 16 Harvard (6–2, 0–2 Ivy) 17–15 on March 16, yet the Bulldogs faced adversity at No. 7 Cornell (5–2, 2–0 Ivy) last Saturday, falling 18–15 on March 23.
In their contest with Denver, midfielder Patrick Hackler ’24 began the scoring for the Elis less than five minutes into the first quarter. Denver answered back with two goals by midfielder Mic Kelly and attackman JJ Sillstrop, and attackman David Anderson ’27 leveled the score with 4:01 remaining in the quarter.
Kelly added another goal for Denver, and midfielder Carson Kuhl ’25 leveled the score again, at 3–3, to close out the period. While Denver midfielder Joshua Carlson added a goal in the first minute of the second frame, Yale scored the next three, with goals from midfielder Max Krevsky ’25, Anderson and attackman Peter Moynihan ’27.
Attackman Noah Manning added a man-up goal for the Pioneers with 5:04 remaining in the half, followed by another Denver goal by Michael Lampert 16 seconds later. Midfielder Johnny Keib ’25 tallied a goal for the Bulldogs to close out the half with a 7–6 lead.
In the second half, scoring shifted back and forth between the Elis and the Pioneers, with Anderson, Hackler, Moynihan, Krevsky, attackman Matt Brandau ’24, Keib and Kuhl seeing success. Notably, Brandau’s first goal of the half came five seconds after Krevsky’s, as faceoff specialist Machado Rodriguez ’25 won a key faceoff and assisted the goal.
A key moment in securing Yale’s win, with less than five minutes remaining in the 13–13 tied game, was a behind-the-back pass by Anderson to Brandau, who shot and scored on Pioneer goalkeeper Malcolm Kleban. The play was featured as one of SportsCenter’s Top-10 of the week.
Throughout the contest, the Elis led the game 57–43 in shots and 28–17 in ground balls. Between Rodriguez and faceoff specialist Nicholas Ramsey ’24, Yale won 19-of-32 faceoffs, and goalkeeper Jared Paquette ’25 made 11 saves.
In their home game against Harvard the following Saturday, the Elis also saw success, dominating their Ivy League rivals 17–15. Leading the contest by seven points at halftime, Yale managed to hold Harvard at bay and refused to concede their lead the entire game.
Defenseman Jack Stuzin ’25 began scoring for the Bulldogs just ten seconds into the first period, assisted by Hackler. Harvard answered back with an unassisted goal by attackman Sam King, but Yale responded with two more goals by Kuhl and midfielder Logan Soelberg ’25.
Crimson attackman Teddy Malone reduced Yale to a one-point lead, but the Elis scored another two within the next minute, both by Kuhl and assisted by Brandau. Malone scored again for Harvard with 8:43 remaining in the quarter, and the Bulldogs closed out the frame with three more goals, by Keib, midfielder Thomas Bragg ’24 and Hackler.
Harvard opened the second frame with two goals, by King and attackman/midfielder Miles Botkiss, so, in retribution, Yale scored five in the next ten minutes. Kuhl scored once, while Keib and Anderson each tallied two goals. King closed out the half with a goal for Harvard, raising the score to 13–6.
In the third quarter, Harvard attempted a comeback, scoring five goals in comparison to Yale’s sole, unassisted goal by Bragg. In the final frame, however, Yale held its lead by adding three more goals, by Bragg, midfielder Cole Cashion ’27 and Hackler, who shot from beyond midfield into an empty net.
Ultimately, Harvard was unable to catch up to Yale’s lead, securing Yale its first Ivy victory of the season. Brandau tied Yale’s single-game assists record with eight assists, Rodriguez led the Bulldogs in faceoffs, going 24-for-34, and Paquette made nine saves during the contest.
Last Saturday, Yale traveled to Ithaca, New York, to face Cornell. After a two-hour game delay due to adverse snowy weather conditions, Cornell attackman Ryan Goldstein began scoring 1:13 into the game. Yale answered back with two unassisted goals by Brandau and Bragg, leading to Cornell’s next two by attackman/midfielder AJ Nikolic and attackman CJ Kirst.
Kulh was the next to net a goal to level the score, followed nearly 30 seconds later with another Nikolic goal. A goal by Brandau closed out the period in a 4–4 tie.
Cornell netted three more goals throughout the second period, followed by three Yale tallies from Soelberg and Hackler — to close out the half — and Bragg to open the third frame. Cornell scored again twice, and Kuhl answered back with 9:58 remaining in the third period. Big Red Michael Long made two consecutive goals within 15 seconds, followed by another Kirst score with 7:16 remaining.
Brandau, Krevsky and Kuhl each added a goal in the remainder of the third frame to reduce Cornell to a one-point lead. In the fourth and final frame, however, Cornell scored five consecutive goals, before Yale added three — one by Krevsky and two by Brandau — which wasn’t enough to catch the lead.
Within the final six seconds of the game, Long and Bragg each scored one goal, leaving Yale in a three-point deficit to close out the contest.
The Elis led the game in shots, 48–39, and turnovers, 14–13. Yale also edged Cornell 44–33 in ground balls and 21–14 in won faceoffs. Rodriguez had a team-best 13 ground balls, followed by Brandau and Hackler with five each.
Paquette made 14 saves in goal for the Bulldogs throughout the game.
Yale faces Le Moyne (2–5, 0–0 NEC) at Reese Stadium on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. and will travel to Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday to face Brown at 2:00 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+, and the Brown game will also be streamed on NESN.