Weekly Sports Roundup (3/25-3/31)

Last week, the men's ice hockey team made it to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five years—and after this weekend, they're one step closer to winning a championship. After an overtime goal pushed the No. 15 Bulldogs past No. 2 Minnesota on Friday, the team went on to defeat North Dakota over the weekend 4–1. The victory marks the Bulldogs' first entry into the Frozen Four since 1952; the team takes on UMass-Lowell in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

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

Women's Tennis

After 30 straight victories at Yale's Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center the No. 36 women's tennis team had no plans to end its streak. The Bulldogs (11–2, 0–0 Ivy) defeated Rutgers by a score of 6–1 on Saturday. Captain Elizabeth Epstein ’13, the nation's No. 45 player, competed in the No. 1 spot for the first time this season and defeated Rutgers's Vanessa Petrini, later going on to win the No. 1 doubles spot with Annie Sullivan ’14. And now it's time for Ivy League play: the Bulldogs compete against Princeton on Friday.

Men's Tennis

Last week was just as strong for the No. 56 men's team, which defeated St. John's 5–2 in its final nonconference game of the season on Saturday. Going into Ivy League play this week, the Bulldogs have a 14–3 record and have won 10 of their last 11 games. The team takes on No. 52 Princeton on Saturday.

Women's Lacrosse

The Bulldogs certainly bounced back from their two conference losses last week. On Friday, the team (6–4, 0–3 Ivy) defeated California 10–7 and traveled to Lehigh on Sunday, where it won by a score of 16–8. They return to conference play when they face off against Princeton on Saturday.

Men's Lacrosse

After its first two conference games ended in disappointment, the Bulldogs earned their first Ivy League victory of the season. The men's lacrosse team (4–3, 1–2 Ivy) defeated No. 11 Penn 7–6 on Saturday. The game was over two minutes into overtime when attackman Kirby Zdrill ’13 scored against the Quakers.

Women's Sailing

A shifty northwesterly wind was no match for the No. 2 women's sailing team, which took home the Dellenbaugh Trophy on Sunday. Of the 17 schools represented at the competition, only one managed to avoid finishing outside the top ten in at least one of the first six races—a sign that all teams struggled against the poor weather conditions. But the wind became more stable on Sunday and allowed the Bulldogs to leap from fifth to first in the last six races of the competition. Next up: the President's Trophy hosted by Boston University.  

Men's Lightweight Crew

For the third straight year, the Bulldogs took home the Johnson Cup after sweeping Navy on Lake Carnegie this weekend. The team finished two of four races with a lead of over 10 seconds. The team takes on MIT and Georgetown on the Housatonic River in Derby next weekend.

Coed Sailing

For the third straight year, the Bulldogs took home the Johnson Cup after sweeping Navy on Lake Carnegie this weekend. The team finished two of four races with a lead of over 10 seconds. The team takes on MIT and Georgetown on the Housatonic River in Derby, Conn. next weekend.

Women's Crew

It was an exciting season opener for the women's crew this weekend. The Bulldogs had some strong performances in races against Penn and Columbia: the team's second varsity, varsity four and second varsity four were each victorious. The day's most impressive showing went to the second varsity, which finished with a time of 6:28.0—a nearly 20-second lead over second-place Columbia.

Softball

For the first time since its season began a month ago, the softball team made won the majority of its games last week—and the victories mark a promising start to Ivy League play for the Bulldogs. Yale (7–15, 3–1 Ivy) beat Cornell 7–2 and 7–5 on Saturday and split a double header with Princeton on Sunday. The team also saw mixed results with its two games against Fairfield: one of the games ended in a 4–0 victory for the Bulldogs, while the other ended in a 5–4 loss. Conference play continues this week with games against Penn and Columbia.

Baseball

The Bulldogs broke an 11-game losing streak when they defeated the Princeton Tigers in the second of two games Saturday afternoon. But the 9–1 victory was sandwiched between a 4–0 loss to Princeton and an 8–5 loss to Cornell. The Bulldogs (3–15, 2–2 Ivy) return to the diamond today to take on Cornell one more time before taking on Sacred Heart on Tuesday.

Men's Heavyweight Crew

In its season opener last Friday, the men's heavyweight crew team fell to Brown after several close races on the Seekonk River. The Bulldogs beat the Bears in only one of four races—the four with coxswain—and lost all three eights races. The team is back in action on April 13, when it faces off against Dartmouth for the Olympic Axe.