Yale Preps for National Semifinal

No. 1 Penn State will be looking to avenge its only loss of the season when
the Nittany Lions fake on Yale in NCAA Lacrosse Final Four action on
Saturday. The game will be televised on live on ESPN2.

By Steve Conn

PHILADELPHIA—The defending national champion Yale Bulldogs are heading to the City of Brotherly Love where they will take on the No. 1 Penn State in the first national semifinal game in the NCAA Final Four Lacrosse tournament on Saturday. The Bulldogs (14-3), the No. 5 seed, take on top-seeded Penn State (16-1), which is looking to avenge its only loss of the 2019 season. Yale topped Penn State by the slimmest of margins (14-13) back in February in a game played in New Haven.

“I think having played them already is a big factor,” said Yale head coach Andy Shay. “You watch them on film and they’re so dazzling; so fast; so impressive, but there’s really nothing like first-hand knowledge of what happened. You know what you’re seeing on film and how it translates.”

Face-offs, and more specifically winning them, has played a large role in the Bulldogs’ good fortunes this season.

“That’s a big part of our success, and it was a big part of our success the first time [against Penn State],” continued Shay. “I don’t know if it’s realistic to expect that type [TD Ierlan vs. PSU earlier this year] of performance again. We’re never going to go into a game saying ‘We’re going to expect a Herculean performance out of this guy,’ but at the same time, we know that’s our strength and we’re going to hope we can have an outcome in our favor. We’re going to have to be better on the defensive side of the ball, and sharp on the offensive side of the ball, too.”

It’s also important that the Bulldogs control the pace of the game.

“We’ve talked about it," said Shay. “We’re going to see how the game plays out. We like to play at a fast pace, but we’re going to have to be smart and see how the game plays out. I don’t have any idea what kind of score I would like, I just hope we can have more than them at the end. If it’s 1-0, great. If it’s 24-23, great. I think, for us, it’s more of a game-time decision. I think the temperature will be a factor. We’ll see what happens.”

The Yale-Penn State match at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia airs live on ESPN2 following the clash between No. 2 Duke vs. No. 3 Virginia starting at noon. The weather should be picture perfect, with high temperature in the mid-70s and low humidity (dew points in the 50s).

Series History

Yale and Penn State have played 4 times since a 1940 exhibition, box lacrosse meeting inside Payne Whitney Gym. The Elis have a 3-1 edge including an NCAA Tournament contest at State College in 2013.

3/02/40, 12-9 PSU, Exhibition - Yale Gym

3/12/97, 11-6 PSU, @ Boca Raton, Fla.

3/11/03, 17-15 Yale, @ St. Andrews, Fla.

5/11/13, 10-7 Yale, @ State College (NCAA 1st Round)

2/20/19, 14-13 Yale, @New Haven

2019 Game Summary

TD Ierlan won 25 of 31 face-offs and scored a goal to help No. 6 Yale get its first win of the year, a 14-13 decision against No. 2 Penn State on Feb. 20 at New Haven. Jackson Morrill had 2-5-7 and Matt Gaudet and Brendan Rooney each hit the net 3 times as the home team overcame a pair of early, two-goal deficits before seizing the momentum in the second quarter with a 4-goal surge. The Nittany Lions evened things at 7-7 in the third before the Bulldogs sandwiched a pair of 3-goal runs around one PSU tally to take a 13-8 lead early in the final frame. Penn State would not go away. The visitors scored 4 of the game's last 5 goals, including their 13th with 56 seconds left. The most important face-off was the 31st and final. Ierlan didn't take long to come out with the ball before his teammates ran out the rest of the clock.

About the Bulldogs

Yale, which has scored 19 goals in each of its NCAA Tournament games this month, has won eight of its last nine games overall. The Elis have now won six consecutive national tourney games. There were 13 “ties” during Yale's quarterfinal win last Sunday, so it was only fitting that Jack Tigh (pronounced “Tie”) scored the game-winner in overtime, his team's first extra session victory since the 2017 Ivy Tourney semifinal against Penn.

About the Nittany Lions

Penn State, winners of 13 straight and the top ranked team in Division I since week five, have blown out its two NCAA opponents this month.

Tickets

The Yale Athletics Ticket Office is selling all-session tickets for $110, which includes all 3 days (5 games) in the Yale section (123). All tickets for other sections are being sold through the NCAA. Parking passes are also being sold through the NCAA at:  https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/eagles/EN/buy/browse. There will be $20 Yale Student Tickets (with ID) available for sale at the Xfinity Gate on game day. These are in the end zone, not in the Yale section.

Bulldog Bites

Yale-Penn State:

• Yale’s only losses (by a combined 3 goals) have been to teams from the state of Pennsylvania (Villanova, Penn), where the Bulldogs return seeking to repeat as champions.
• Yale has 4 players from PA (Brody Wilson, Chris Hladczuk, Bryce De Muth, Brian Ward).
• Wilson, Hladczuk, De Muth grew up just under an hour away from Lincoln Financial Field.
• Bryce De Muth played with Penn State’s Brayden Peck and Nick Cardile at Avon Grove HS.
• Matt Gaudet played with Penn State’s Dylan Sulzbach at Salisbury School (Yale’s Joe Neuman also transferred there after they left).
• John Daniggelis and Luke Eschbach played at Smithtown East HS with Penn State’s Bobby Burns and Gerard Arceri (Yale’s Kyle Zawadzki played at Smithtown West).
• Thomas Bragg played at Cazenovia HS with Penn State’s TJ Connella.
• The teams’ associate head coaches and defensive coordinators, Andrew Baxter (Y) and Peter Toner (PSU), played together at Springfield Colleg.
• Before last year’s championship run, Yale’s last win in the NCAA tournament came at Penn State in 2013 (10-7), the first national tourney victory for Andy Shay.
• In 2014, Smithtown East HS overcame a 4-goal deficit against town rival, undefeated, Smithtown West,ranked No. 3 in the country, with 10 minutes to go. The winning goal was scored by Penn State’s BobbyBurn’s with 15 seconds remaining off a pass from Yale’s John Daniggelis.