Ending on a high note

After last year's 6-7 finish (3-3 Ivy), good enough for fourth in the Ivy League, the men's lacrosse team can't afford to be complacent. Receiving votes in only one end-of-season national poll, and that due mostly to its strength of schedule, the Elis have just one way to go in the 2002 season—up. A glimpse of that was seen last weekend in the Yale Fall Classic, where Yale finished with a 4-1 record.

Even with the victories, the Bulldogs have a long way to go before sitting atop the Ivies. "There's going to be a lot of parity within the Ivy League this year," Captain Tucker Foote, TC '02, said. "But we've already played Harvard, and we beat up on them."

The level of competition Yale faced in the Fall Classic was not exactly the best in the nation, but the Elis took the opportunity to finish up their 12 allowed fall practices with solid victories. The Bulldogs beat Vermont 7-4, Villanova 8-4, Hartford 7-4, and Harvard 9-3 in the only Ivy match Yale will see before the spring season. But, at least last season, none of the teams Yale defeated were even in the top half of their divisions. Bucknell, the only team that beat the Elis on Sun., Oct. 20, 7-6, finished 12th in the nation last year.

Foote was optimistic about the team's play at the Fall Classic and its chances in the spring. "We really came together as a team this weekend and played well as a whole," he said. "For once, we're an old team with a lot of experience. Also, we've been working a lot harder this year than in the past."

—Laurie Randell

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