Weekly Sports Roundup (3/11-3/17)

With the spring season well underway, many Yale teams are performing at their strongest—a good sign as teams begin conference play. The women's gymnastics team posted some promising results at a meet early last week: the Bulldogs scored 193.475 points, the highest score the team posted since 2004 and its fifth highest all-time score. Yale finished second at the meet, behind Bridgeport, which scored 196.200, and well ahead of Brown, this season's Ivy champion, which scored 191.625. But at the Bulldogs' final meet of the regular season on Friday, the team fell 193.300–189.525 to William and Mary. 

In other sports news this week (information from Yale Sports Publicity):

Men's Ice Hockey

In an impressive performance at the ECAC Quarterfinals last week, the Bulldogs defeated St. Lawrence 6–1 on Friday and 3–0 on Saturday. With the victories, No. 13 Yale heads to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to take on Union in the ECAC Semifinals. If they win the tournament, the team will get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, their fourth appearance in five years. (They could also enter the tournament via an at-large bid.)

Coed Sailing

At this weekend's Truxtun Umstead Intersectional, the No. 3 Bulldogs emerged victorious for the second straight year. The event was the team's first fleet race of the season, and although the Bulldogs ended the first day in fourth place, lagging behind first by over 30 points, they made a comeback on day two and defended their title. Next weekend, the team will compete for the Owen Trophy at the US Naval Academy and for the Boston Dinghy Cup held by Harvard and MIT—two trophies the Bulldogs won last year.

Men's Tennis

The No. 50 Bulldogs completed a six-match winning streak when they defeated Illinois State 6–1, but the team then went on to drop its first match in four weeks on Thursday, when they fell 7–0 to No. 72 UNC Wilmington. The Bulldogs ended their spring break trip to North Carolina with a 4–3 win over No. 55 Old Dominion on Sunday. Three matches remain until the Ivy League stretch begins in April.

Women's Tennis

The women's team, meanwhile, saw similar results at the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala. The No. 34 Bulldogs (10–2) defeated Pepperdine 4–3 on Friday, but fell 4–3 to No. 47 Virginia on Saturday. On the third day of competition, the Bulldogs defeated No. 40 Ohio State with a score of 4–1, recording a third-place finish at the meet. The team faces Rutgers for its final non-conference match of the season on March 30, after which the team will open Ivy League play with a game against Princeton on April 5.

Women's Sailing

At the St. Mary's Women's Regatta this weekend, the No. 1 Bulldogs came in fourth, behind No. 6 Boston College, No. 4 Georgetown, and No. 5 St. Mary's. Despite challenging wind conditions, skipper Morgan Kiss ’15 and crew Urska Kosir ’15 managed to finish third in A division, while skipper Marlena Fauer ’14 and crew Eugenia Custo Craig ’14 finished fifth in B division. The Bulldogs will compete in the Duplin Trophy Team Race Regatta next weekend at Tufts.  

Women's Lacrosse

The Bulldogs (4–3, 0–2 Ivy) added a third victory to their winning streak on Tuesday, when they defeated Sacred Heart by a score of 15–9 in a violent rainstorm. Although the team has won four of its five non-conference games this season, it hasn't fared as well in Ivy League play: the women's lacrosse team fell to fell 12–8 to Penn on Saturday. Next stop for the team: Harvard on Saturday.

Men's Lacrosse

The No. 15/16 men's team, meanwhile, posted disappointing results at its Ivy opener against Cornell on Saturday. The Bulldogs (3–2, 0–1 Ivy) fell 12–10 to the No. 2 Big Red, despite strong performances from Dylan Levings ’14, Conrad Oberbeck ’15, and Brandon Mangan ’14, who leads the Elis with 24 points in five games. The Bulldogs continue Ivy League play this week, with games against Princeton and Penn.

Women's Golf

In its first return to competition since October, the women's golf team saw some promising results. The Bulldogs defeated Lehigh and Richmond at the Lehigh Palm Beach Invitational early last week, but they lost momentum as they headed into the C&F Bank Intercollegiate hosted by Willian and Mary. At the end of the first day of competition, the team came in sixth place, and the tournament ends today. 

Men's Golf

The Bulldogs saw a rough start to their spring season. Taking on several nationally ranked teams at the Tiger Invitational in Opelika, Alabama, the men's golf team came in 13th at the end of the first day of competition, and slipped to the 14th spot at the end of the tournament. Yale went on to fall 565–579 to No. 10 Georgia on Saturday.

Baseball

After a disappointing opening week, the Bulldogs secured their first victory of the season when they beat Bucknell 5–2 at the Russ-Matt Invitational. But last week's four other games resulted in losses for the baseball team (1–7): the Bulldogs lost 9–2 to Valparaiso on Wednesday, 17–2 to North Dakota State on Thursday, 4–3 to Long Island on Friday, and 6–2 to Navy on Saturday. The team plays Virginia on Tuesday.

Softball

The softball team left with no victories after its six games last week, which bring its season record to 2–11. The Bulldogs fell 6–1 to Seattle, 5–1 to Holy Cross, 7–1 to Stony Brook, 14–11 to Manhattan, 13–6 to Holy Cross, and 4–1 to Stony Brook. After the Stony Brook Invitational, the Bulldogs take on Providence on Wednesday.