The Yale men's lacrosse season is underway, and if the team's first five games are any indication of what's to come, it promises to be both an exciting and competitive year. The Elis stand at 2-3, with its five games decided by a total of seven goals, including four decided by a single goal. Yale opened its season with a loss to Delaware, ranked 18th in the country at the time of the game. The Blue Hens scored the first three goals of the second half after the teams had battled to a 5-5 halftime tie, and despite a furious comeback, the Bulldogs lost 10-9.
Yale then traveled to sunny Boca Raton, Fla., to play the preseason number-one ranked Syracuse Orangemen and the Fairfield Stags. The Elis played valiantly but fell to Syracuse, 14-13, despite leading with two minutes to play. Tom Zaccagnino, BK '96, led all scorers with five goals and three assists. Three days later, a favored Yale squad squeaked out a 13-12 victory over Fairfield. Yale dominated almost every statistical category in this game, yet was unable to put the game out of reach until it was over.
The squad headed back north for its home opener against UMass, the ninth-ranked team in the country. Yale lost this game 9-6, as the offense of Brendan Glass (five points) and a solid defense proved to be too much for the Elis to overcome. In their first Ivy League contest of the year, the Bulldogs knocked offCornell in triple overtime. Despite squandering a three-goal lead in the final four minutes of the fourth, Yale managed to pull out a thrilling win on a Bob Berls, PC '96, goal at 3:03 in the third overtime.
"It's still early in the year, and we still have a lot of coming together to do as a team," head coach Mike Waldvogel said. "The biggest thing that we have to work on is keeping our poise. More specifically, our motion offense will take some time to develop, and we need to work on getting better overall team defense." Waldvogel believes that the extra- man offense is one area that needs to improve in order for Yale to have a strong season. Yale has scored on only two of 29 penalty opportunities, and Waldvogel believes that this unit must display more patience and move the ball better to convert a higher percentage of its opportunities.
As for the team itself, leading scorer Shawn O'Rourke, TD '97, believes that it "is coming together as a single unit. A lot of guys have been stepping up in the big games. We wouldn't have won a game like the game against Cornell a few years ago."
The squad graduated only five players, and a large group of experienced veterans will be counted on to improve last season's 5-9 overall record.
The Bulldog offense is led by senior attackman Zaccagnino, who was voted team MVP last season and was an honorable-mention All-American. Zaccagnino (14 points) is joined up front by Berls (13), and O'Rourke (16).
Coach Waldvogel praised the recent play of O'Rourke, characterizing his play in the last two games "as an All-American type performance." O'Rourke, who has compiled 10 points in the last two games, comments that he is "trying to optimize his abilities to help the team in any way, and to do whatever it takes to win."
In the midfield, Kevin Toscano, CC '96, Watts Humphrey, SY '97, and Devon Archer, TD '96, will be counted on to lead the attack. So far, these three have compiled 17 total points, including four goals in the Cornell victory. Todd Kelleher, PC '96, an honorable mention All-Ivy performer last season, captain Steve Hunt, SY '96, and Chris Casey, PC '97, handle most of the defensive midfield responsibilities, while the Bulldogs rely upon Brian Wilhelm, CC '96, to win a high percentage of face-offs.
A strong core of seniors help to anchor the defense, as Keith Vachris, DC '96, Andy Snow, ES '96, Rajah Singh, SY '96, Nick Insua, BK '96, and Brendan Doyle, DC '96, have all seen considerable playing time. Underclassmen D. Lawrence, CC '98, and Vincent Ferraro, SY '98, have contributed solid minutes as well.
One of the most pleasant surprises of the squad this season has been the solid play of freshman Joe Pilch, SM '99, in the goal. Pilch has played every minute between the pipes this season and has compiled a .487 save percentage and a 10.65 goals-against average against some of the best offensive teams in the country.
"It's been a lot of fun to get a chance to play,"says Pilch. "The guys have been real supportive of me out there, and I'm real excited for the big games coming up." Pilch isn't the only freshman making an impact for the Bulldogs. Midfielder Brad Graw, SM '99, scored two key goals in the loss to Delaware, while Coddy Johnson, DC '99, had two goals and an assist in the win over Fairfield.
Next up for Yale are Ivy opponents Princeton and Brown, who are ranked second and third in the nation. Yale travels to Princeton Sat., Mar. 30, and will host Brown at 3 p.m. on Wed., Apr. 3.
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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