On a warm afternoon in New Haven, the No. 9 Princeton women’s lacrosse team (8–1 overall, 2–0 Ivy League) defeated the No. 12 Yale Bulldogs (7–3, 1–2), 13–11. While many successful free position conversions for Yale kept them in contention with Princeton for much of the game, the Tigers fought hard, ultimately beating Yale to extend their unbeaten streak in Ivy play.
“This is a game we’ve been waiting for all season,” junior attacker Haven Dora told The Daily Princetonian. “Obviously, not having won the past two years, we wanted it even more this year.”
“It really was a full team win for all 60 minutes,” Head Coach Jenn Cook said. “They really wanted this game, and it was just fun to see it all come together.”
Princeton started off the scoring early. Just over a minute and a half into the first quarter, Dora cut through from the goal line, passing the ball to sophomore attacker Meg Morrisroe, who whipped it past the Yale goalie for the first goal of the match.
“If the opening is not there for me, I’m going to feed my teammates,” Dora explained. “At the end of the day, if our team can be successful, that’s what we want.”
Good defense from both sides kept the score at 1–0 until about halfway into the quarter. The Bulldogs took advantage of a free position opportunity, squeaking the ball past junior goaltender Amelia Hughes to tie it up 1–1. While the Tigers kept Yale off the scoreboard in regular play, a foul by Roberts on Yale granted them the opportunity they needed. Yale capitalized on yet another free position play, bringing the score to 2–1 Bulldogs.
Less than a minute into the second quarter, the ball skipped from junior attacker Jami MacDonald to Dora to senior attacker McKenzie Blake, who then flicked it in to bring the score to 2–2.
“I think what was so fun about the game is that the whole team really played connected and were playing for each other,” Cook noted after the game.
The lead wouldn’t last long, as Yale scored two goals to bring it to 4–2. A minute later, Blake cheekily spun to the left, hitting a low shot into the bottom left corner to narrow the gap to one, 4–3.
With just over five minutes left before half, MacDonald spun and tipped the ball into the net for her 24th goal of the season and Princeton’s fourth goal of the game. One minute later, Dora faked her way through the Yale defense, whipping the ball to ricochet off both posts before hitting the net to give Princeton a brief 5–4 lead until Yale equalized before the end of the half.
The first half was emblematic of the whole game, which was a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair for nearly the entire 60 minutes.
Early in the second half, Yale scored to take the lead. Soon after, the Tigers went on a 4–0 run fueled by two goals by Blake and one each for Dora and MacDonald. Although Yale countered with a goal of their own, it was the Tigers’ quarter as Dora added another score to lead 10–7 with one quarter left to play.
At the onset of the fourth quarter, foul trouble for the Tigers enabled Yale to take advantage of a numbers-on advantage to even the score at 10. Having led for most of the second half, the Tigers didn’t let the tie last for long. Junior Maggie Molhnar converted a free position chance to regain the lead for Princeton.
On a Yale counter, Hughes faced a dangerous shot and made a great save, continuing her dominant play for Princeton.
“Making a save, it’s like quick excitement,” Hughes said. “But then it’s also immediately turning back to focusing on getting it all back down the field and giving it to the defenders to move all the way back down the attack.”
With around four minutes left in the game, the Tigers earned a man-up advantage after a foul on Morrisroe. Dora passed the ball to Blake, who whipped the ball into the net for her fifth goal, awarding Princeton a two-score lead with two seconds on the shot clock and two minutes left in the game.
Princeton pivotally won the draw, maintaining possession and putting the pressure on Yale, who called a timeout. After a score from Dora a minute later, Princeton finally put Yale away, winning 13–11.
“I think we’ve shown what we’re capable of,” Hughes reflected. She noted that going forward, the team will focus on “continuing to show up and put in the work every day at practice and continuing to play for each other and be as good as we know that we are.”
Princeton’s victory over the Bulldogs marks the first time Yale has lost at home since the end of the regular season in 2023. With this win, Princeton remains unbeaten in the Ivy League.
The Tigers will look to continue to build on this momentous win going forward as they face Cornell on the road next weekend.
“We performed against a really tough opponent in Yale, and a really talented team,” Cook told the ‘Prince.’ “But we’ve got to have that same mentality going into Cornell.”
Leila Eshaghpour-Silberman is a staff Sports writer and contributing Features writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com
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