Sunday, May 26, 2019 Yale starts fast and upends No. 1 Penn State
Defending champs earn shot against Virginia in NCAA Div.I lacrosse final
Philadelphia — Yale spent most of the past week answering questions about how they'd slow down Penn State squad billed as one of college lacrosse's all-time juggernauts.
In scores of interviews, Yale players and coaches said the right things. Penn State was certainly a formidable opponent with a lethal offense that's racked up goals and points at a record pace. They embraced the role of plucky underdog while quietly waiting for a chance to prove themselves once again.
They'd already handed Penn State its lone loss of the season and boasted perhaps the nation's deepest talent pool. And, lest anyone forget, they are also the defending national champions.
Yale came out firing on all cylinders, taking an early nine-goal lead by tying an NCAA tournament semifinals record with 10 first-period goals, and then held off a late Penn State charge to secure a 21-17 victory on Saturday before a crowd of 32,612 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Freshman Matt Brandau had a career-high seven goals with an assist while junior T.D. Ierlan, Yale's Tewaaraton Award finalist, won 28 faceoffs.
The convincing victory means Yale (15-3) gets the chance to defend its national title on Monday against Virginia — a 13-12 winner over Duke in overtime in Saturday's first semifinal. The Bulldogs defeated Duke last year to win the program's first national championship since 1883.
Penn State (16-2) saw its 13-game win streak snapped. Yale is the only team to defeat the Nittany Lions this season, posting a 14-13 victory in New Haven on Feb. 20.
Yale coach Andy Shay noticed early that few, if any media outlets seemed to think his team had much of a chance and used that as extra motivation.
“As soon it started looking that way, we shoved that in our guys faces,” Shay said. “No one was picking us and we're going to have to roll up our sleeves and play as hard as we possibly can to overcome this incredible team. In the back of their minds, our guys think they're pretty good too.”
There was no question Penn State's high-end offensive duo of Grant Ament and Mac O'Keefe would be a problem. As two of the top-scoring teammates in NCAA history, they were at the heart of an offense that was averaging 23 goals through the first two NCAA tournament games.
Ament finished with three goals and five assists; O'Keefe had three goals. Penn State finished with 17 goals in the game, though four came with the game in hand and Yale more focused on winding down the clock. It was, essentially, a defensive achievement.
“They have so many talented players,” Yale sophomore defenseman Chris Fake said. “We came out with more energy and that helped a ton. We had a lot of focus off-ball. They have so many threats. You have to be right on their hands because they're so good. Seventeen goals isn't exactly what we wanted. But we knew it would be a high-scoring game.”
The difference in the game was Yale's torrid start and its ability to withstand a second quarter charge by the Nittany Lions.
The Bulldogs historic start included scoring from a variety of sources. Seven different players had goals, with Brandau, Jackson Morrill (three goals, two assists) and Matt Gaudet scoring two apiece.
Shooting was also deadly accurate. Yale converted 10 of the first 13 shots, becoming only the second team to score 10 in a single quarter of a national semifinal game.
The last time a team scored that many in a quarter was in 1976, when Virginia hung 10 on Navy.
The game was fewer than 5 minutes old and Yale led 4-0. Penn State could do little to stop the bleeding. Ierlan continually got the ball back on faceoffs, and his teammates rifled home shot after shot. The lead was 10-1 with 2 minutes remaining in the first.
“Yale really came out and took advantage of some experience and maybe a lack of preparation,” Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni said. “I think maybe today was one of those days where it was bigger than us.”
Penn State, which led the country with an average of 18 goals per game, got itself back into the game by outscoring Yale 7-2 in the second quarter to bring the Nittany Lions to within 12-9 at halftime.
Yale kept the Nittany Lions at bay in the second half, using a 3-1 run at the start to extend its lead back to five. Penn State got back to within three goals at 16-13 by scoring three of the final four goals of the third quarter.
But the Bulldogs salted the game away with a four-goal run to begin the fourth quarter. Brandau had three of them, all coming a rolled ankle briefly sent him to the sidelines for treatment.
Brandau appeared at the postgame press conference wearing a walking boot. He'll be reevaluated Sunday, though Brandau said he expects to play against Virginia.
Penn State would never get within three goals.
“The quick start was a huge part of the game because we knew the haymaker was coming,” said Yale senior midfielder Joey Sessa (goal, three assists). “They threw a couple at us. We had that cushion to fall back on. I'm really proud of the guys. We've had trouble finishing games this year. We were able to pull away and keep it there. It's a big step forward for our team.”