Yale falls in NCAA title game
Bulldogs lose chance at repeating as champions
PHILADELPHIA — Andy Shay emerged from the locker room at Lincoln Financial Field on Monday with eyes puffy and red. Tears flowed heavy for the
Yale men’s lacrosse coach during a postgame speech to his team.
He choked back more when asked about their accomplishments.
The Bulldogs carried the pressure of being defending national champions, a potential notch in the belt for each and every opponent on the schedule. They would come within one game of pulling off the monumental task of repeating the feat.
On this day Virginia, one of the sport’s most accomplished programs, was simply better, using a deliberate and physical approach to take Yale out of its comfort zone in a 13-9 victory before a crowd of
31,528.
It was Virginia’s sixth national title and first since
2011. Yale saw its streak of seven straight NCAA tournament wins snapped; a run that included Duke in last year’s championship game, the program’s first national championship in
135 years.
Shay despised this group being continually pigeonholed as defending national champs, a term he never used and hated addressing. Expectations never changed. Yale’s goal was always to win the whole thing again. But to Shay, it was an entirely different team with a unique identity.
“The last week, we’ve had time to reflect what an amazing accomplishment it was to get back here given everything we’ve had to fight though,” Shay said. “It made us grow as a team and made me grow as a coach. Now, it’s Virginia’s problem. I would love having that trophy again, but I don’t want that albatross anymore.”
All season long Yale has imposed its offensive will, somehow managing to become even more dangerous despite losing Ben Reeves, the nation’s top player, and five other major components to graduation.
Shots and goals came with relative ease. Opposing defenses were often rendered helpless.
The Bulldogs (15-4) had been particularly lethal in the postseason, averaging a tick under 20 goals in the first three NCAA games. But on a day it broke the record for total goals in an NCAA tournament — its 68 goals scored eclipsed the record of 66 set by Virginia in 2006 — Yale turned it its least effective offensive output of the entire season.
Virginia (17-3), behind goalie Alex Rode and a fiercely physical defensive strategy, smothered the Bulldogs on nearly every possession.
Yale averaged nine goals in the first quarter during the first three NCAA games, including a national semifinal record of 10 against Penn State on Saturday. It scored one in the first against the Cavaliers, and trailed 6-2 at halftime. The nine goals were a season-low.
“We were stagnant early on,” Yale freshman attackman Matt Brandau said. “By the end of the game, we were more aggressive, spun the ball faster and were moving off ball.”
By then, it was too late. Virginia, behind a pair of second-quarter goals by New Canaan’s Michael Kraus, scored four straight to take a 6-2 halftime lead. Yale made a brief burst to start the second half, scoring twice in a span of 69 seconds to cut the deficit to two.
But the Cavaliers quickly snuffed out any momentum, scoring five unanswered goals in the next seven minutes to essentially put the game out of reach. Only once all season had Yale trailed by more than three goals, a five-goal deficit to UMass in which it came back to win.
The difference on Monday was Virginia’s suffocating, physical brand of defense. Yale had problems getting clean looks on goal. Those that did get through the defenders were snuffed out by goalie Alex Rode, who made eight saves in the first half and 13 in the game. Key ground balls always seemed to go Virginia’s way.
“We talked about how they defend,” Shay said. “They like to get out and hand-check you right away, which is fine, it didn’t affect us. But they’re pretty athletic and it disrupted us a little more than we expected it to.”
Yale trailed 12-5 before scoring three of the game’s final four goals. Brandau, nursing a sprained ankle, finished with three goals and two assists. But Jackson Morrill, Yale’s leading scorer, was limited to one assist.
Offensive midfielders Jack Tigh (two goals), John Daniggelis (goal, assist) and Lucas Cotler (goal) found clear shots hard to come by. On the opposite end, Virginia milked the shot clock to limit the Bulldog opportunities.
“We like to run; we like to play fast,” Shay said. “They got a few saves, a few failed clears, and when they’re possessing the ball as long as they were it got very frustrating and it wore on us.”