Bulldogs pile up shots in rout
NEW HAVEN — Shots on goal aren’t tracked by Yale or the NCAA for the record books, so there’s no way to know where the 82 shots fired by the Bulldogs on Saturday ranks for historical purposes.
Yale coach Andy Shay, who has been around college lacrosse since his playing days in the early 1990s, couldn’t recall ever seeing that many in one game.
But extraordinary things will happen when a team dominates faceoffs and has the coaching staff’s approval to fire at will on opposing goalies.
Yale needed a quarter to find its rhythm before steamrolling Dartmouth 20-8 in an Ivy League game at Reese Stadium. The 82 shots was a season high, surpassing the 66 in last weekend’s triple-overtime loss at Penn. The Bulldogs’ 20 goals was a season high as were the 28-of-30 faceoff wins.
“A lot of it had to do with all our faceoff guys,” Shay said. “(Dartmouth’s) faceoff guy got hurt and it was downhill from there. If you’ve got limited guys to begin with, and you get hurt going against those guys, it’s really hard.”
It may have taken the Bulldogs (7-2, 3-1) some time to shake Dartmouth, which got through the first quarter tied 4-4, but once Yale found some momentum, the Big Green were rendered all but helpless.
For the Bulldogs (7-2, 3-1), it was a nice way to rebound after a difficult triple-overtime loss last week that snapped their six-game win streak. In that game, the Quakers scored with one second left in regulation to force overtime.
There wasn’t nearly as much drama on Saturday.
“Once we get a couple of goals in the back of the net I think the confidence shoots up,” said junior attacker Lucas Cotler, one of seven Bulldogs with multiple goals. “Coach gives us the green light, so that’s what you got.”
Dartmouth (2-6, 0-2) hung around for a period before Yale hit the gas pedal.
Jackson Morrill had three goals in the second period as the Bulldogs outscored Dartmouth 8-3 to take a 12-7 halftime lead. Five different players would score in the third quarter for Yale, while the defense hung a zero on the Big Green that extended the lead to 17-7.
Much of the offensive explosion came via T.D. Ierlan’s work on the faceoff. He took 23-of-24, most with ease against an array of opposition. Dartmouth used eight different players for faceoffs, including a longstick defender, but with almost no success.
Ierlan set a national record for faceoff win percentage last season at Albany, and was leading the nation this spring. But he won only 15-of-29 last week at Penn — astonishingly low by Ierlan’s lofty standards.
He took it personally and challenged himself to get back to his typical dominant self.
“I wasn’t happy with my performance (at Penn),” Ierlan said. “No discredit to (Penn faceoff specialist Kyle) Gallagher, who’s really good, but anytime we end up on the losing side, and I think I can do better, it makes for a long week of practice.”
Shay was able to empty his bench and get nearly everyone on the roster into the game. It allowed him rest goalie Jack Starr and play three backup goalies in the fourth quarter.