Bulldogs hope to rally in Ivies

BY JAY GOLDKLANG

"The door to the postseason remains open, but it can close quickly," Men's Soccer Coach Brian Tompkins said. After losing their last three games, the Elis face an uphill battle to keep that door open for a bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs were strong at the start of their away game against Penn on Sat., Oct. 20, holding the Quakers scoreless for more than 70 minutes. Forward Allen Cerasani, DC '04, put Yale on the board with 29:46 left in the first half by heading in a pass from forward Justin Burton, JE '04. "We came out flat, but we still controlled the ball," Captain Brian Lavn, PC '02, said. "Penn didn't create much danger, and even though we were playing pretty poorly, it looked like we might escape with a win."

MAC CAPLAN/YH The Elis suffered a tough 2-0 loss to powerhouse UConn this past week.

In the second half, the game began to take a different turn, and the Elis' lead grew more tenuous with each Penn offensive effort. The Bulldogs were able to maintain their lead until Penn's John Salvucci '02 broke into the clear with 18:25 remaining in the game, evening the score at a goal apiece. Yale was unable to regain the momentum or salvage a tie, as Quaker Alex Maasry's '03 goal with 2:50 left spelled defeat for the Elis.

"We just had a breakdown in play during the last 20 minutes," Burton said. "Guys were defensively off their markers, and it just didn't look like us."

Yale players saw the game as a missed opportunity to secure a winning record in the Ivy League. "The loss to Penn basically ended our Ivy hopes for the season," Lavin said. "We were obviously very disappointed and are still searching for our rhythm."

Yale came into its Wed., Oct. 24 home game against the University of Connecticut well aware of the importance of a victory. "We knew we had to bring our `A' game and that it might be hard to rebound from two straight losses against a strong opponent with great players all over the field," Burton said.

The Bulldogs knew that UConn, the defending national champions, would perhaps be the toughest opponent they would face during the season. Tompkins explained that the team changed its regular formation to offset UConn's strong midfield play. "We had to be 10 times sharper than we were in our previous games if we wanted to beat UConn," Lavin said.

While the Bulldogs were sharper, they were not sharp enough. UConn's midfielder Andrew McLeod '03 scored on a header off a corner kick 10:38 into the game. Yale was able to neutralize UConn's attackers until Mansour Ndiaye scored the Huskies' second goal at 73:28 to defeat the Elis 2-0.

The Bulldogs look to improve upon their 5-4-2 record (1-2-1 Ivy) in their remaining five games, with three of them against Ivy teams. Tompkins said, "Ivy League games are always high in intensity, so we will work on finishing our chances and defending at our highest level."

Burton approaches the remainder of the season with realistic expectations. "Winning the Ivy League and getting the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament will be tough because there aren't many games left, and Harvard is undefeated against Ivies so far," he said. "We still have a change at an at-large bid if we play well against opponents in other conferences, though." For now, the door remains open.

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