University of Connecticut Athletics
No. 15 UConn Edged By No. 19 Yale, 10-9
4/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
STORRS, Conn. (April 27, 2005) – Katherine Peetz’s goal with 25 seconds to play was the difference maker as the No. 15 University of Connecticut women’s lacrosse team dropped a critical regional contest to No. 19 Yale on Wednesday night at a damp and fog-encased Morrone Stadium. The Huskies drop to 10-5 overall on the year, with each of the five losses coming to nationally ranked teams. The Bulldogs up their mark to 10-6 overall in the team’s regular season finale.
On a night where visibility was occasionally an issue and senior Jacqui Hamilton was a late scratch from the lineup, UConn relied on a diverse attack against Yale, which held Tracy Mullaney without either a goal or assist for the first time since a loss to Northwestern on April 4, 2004, a span of 22 games. Junior defender Clare Schwan netted her first career goal and Heather McHugh increased her season goal count by 50-percent, from four to six, but the Bulldogs found the answer in the game’s waning moments.
For the game’s first 22 minutes, the teams alternated scoring each of the contest’s first eight goals, three of which came from Yale’s Katherine Sargent. The quick hat trick was part of a five-goal night for the senior. Lauren Taylor netted the other one for the Bulldogs, part of a four-goal game for her. Either Sargent or Taylor scored every Yale goal with the exception of Peetz’s game-winner. Shannon Burke scored twice for UConn in the early going as the teams battled for leverage. Burke ended the night with three goals for her fifth hat trick of the season. Taylor and Sargent would both score before the 24:00 mark to put Yale up 6-4, the largest lead of the half of either side, but Dana Stewart tallied unassisted for UConn at 26:37 to make it a 6-5 game at intermission.
UConn stormed out of the gate in the second half as Schwan and Burke both scored in the stanza’s opening 2:03 to put the Huskies on top 7-6. A pair of unassisted Taylor tallies, and one for Sargent, put the Bulldogs back up 9-7, a lead they would maintain until there were 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Kristen Link 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, converting off of a Stewart feed. It was Stewart’s second assist, part of a three-point night for the senior. Each team had scoring chances inside of three minutes before Peetz found the net on a broken play at 59:35, slipping a low shot past Kristen Haldeman in the Husky net.
Jennifer Wong started the game in net for UConn and made six saves over the game’s first 40:33, allowing eight goals. Haldeman went the final 19:27, allowing two goals with one save. Lonnie Sarnell stopped 10 shots and allowed nine goals, going the distance in the Bulldog cage.
The Huskies will wrap up their 2005 regular season on Friday afternoon then they play host to St. Bonaventure at 4:00 p.m. at Morrone Stadium.
Yale 10, Connecticut 9
Yale 6 4 -- 10 (10-6)
Connecticut 5 4 -- 9 (10-5)
CONNECTICUT GOALS: Shannon Burke (3), Heather McHugh (2), Dana Stewart, Tammy Michel, Kristen Link, Clare Schwan.
CONNECTICUT ASSISTS: Dana Stewart (2).
YALE GOALS: Katherine Sargent (5), Lauren Taylor (4), Katherine Peetz.
YALE ASSISTS: Alessandra Croffy, Sarah Scalia.
SAVES: YU, Lonnie Sarnell 10 (60 min., 9 GA); UC, Jennifer Wong 6 (41 min., 8 GA); UC, Kristen Haldeman 1 (19 min., 2 GA).
SHOTS: YU, 26; UC, 25.
GROUND BALLS: YU, 15; UC, 0.
FREE POSITIONS: YU, 1-of-3; UC, 1-of-5.
