No. 3 Yale opens the season with high expectations
NEW HAVEN — The season-opening game hasn’t been much of an indicator of what’s to come for the Yale men’s lacrosse team.
In each of the past two years the Bulldogs have dropped the opener in overtime to Villanova. And in each of the past two years they’ve played in the final game of the NCAA lacrosse season, winning the 2018 national title and losing to Virginia in the championship game last May.
Yale, which once again begins the season at Villanova (today, 1 p.m.), kicks off a new campaign with massive expectations. It’s ranked third in the preseason polls behind Penn State and Virginia and expected to be a serious contender to reach a third successive national title game.
But mulling the past or thinking too far ahead has never been a problem for Yale, which remains firmly grounded in the present. Not having to deal with the crush of attention or the pressure of being reigning national champs has allowed the team to focus on the tasks at hand.
“We try not to dwell in the past too much,” coach Andy Shay said. “There were fewer distractions in the offseason, people weren’t still talking about the 2018 team. We would have like to win it again, but the vacuum of pressure felt nice this year.”
The challenges for the Bulldogs this season are fairly simple.
First, navigate through a rough early schedule that brings five straight road games and little margin for error. After Villanova, Yale is at Penn State, an explosive offensive team with very real national title dreams. Then it’s on to perennial NCAA tournament qualifier UMass, a neutral site game with Michigan in Costa Mesa, Calif., and the Ivy League opener at always tough Cornell.
Reese Stadium won’t play host to a game until March 21.
“We noticed that’s how the schedule was shaking out a few years ago,” Shay said. “I tried to switch up one of the games but it didn’t work out. It’s something we’ll deal with and not make too much of.”
Yale’s other major task it replacing midfielders Jack Tigh, John Daniggelis and Joey Sessa. Long stick midfielder Robert Mooney is also graduated. Yale’s second-team midfield of Brian Tevlin, Christian Cropp and Lucas Cotler slides up to the first team. Shay is still in search of a starting LSM, though senior Brian Ward has the most experience at the position.
“This does feel like a very different team,” Yale captain Jackson Morrill said. “It’s exciting. We have a lot to work on still. We need to find ways to work through a game.”
Yale’s strength lies in its returning firepower.
Morrill, a senior from Baltimore, had 48 assists and a team-high 94 points as a junior. Matt Brandau scored 50 goals and 74 points as a freshman. Senior Matt Gaudet had a team-best 51 goals last spring.
Junior defenseman Chris Fake is a preseason firstteam All-American and classmate Jack Starr begins his third season as Yale’s starting goalie.
Then there’s the almost unfair advantage of senior faceoff specialist T.D. Ierlan, one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s best player last season.
“Our goal is to get better than we were the year before,” Shay said. “The last two seasons, getting to the final, it becomes harder to improve upon that. We know it’s a challenge, we know it’s exciting but that’s kind of our goal. We’re just trying to improve in any way that we can.”