Justin Ivey, Correspondent Yale
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Featured Image Photo Credit: Justin Ivey
The Yale Bulldogs (2-1) needed a big fourth quarter and overtime to defeat the visiting University of Massachusetts (UMass) Minutemen (1-3) on Saturday, March 2. The snow early in the day didn’t deter the fans from filling Reese Stadium to watch the second home game in as many weeks for the Bulldogs. For the first three quarters, UMass led Yale, but a big second half put the Bulldogs ahead 11-9 with 5:32 to play. They couldn’t hold the lead. UMass Junior Jeff Trainor scored two goals in the last minute of play, the second with one second on the clock, to bring the game to overtime. Yale outlasted a one-minute penalty in the extra frame and Junior Matt Gaudet scored with 54 seconds remaining to give Yale their second win in a row. Final Score: UMass-11, Yale-12
UMass came out strong in the first quarter on both sides of the ball. In the first three minutes of play Minutemen Ben Spencer (2G) scored two goals. With 9:25 remaining Jeff Trainor (3G, 1A) scored his first of the game and quickly the Bulldogs were down 3-0. Finally, just over a minute later Matt Gaudet (3G, 1A) put Yale on the board as the offense was able to settle in, but UMass got it back when Billy Philpott (2G) scored with 1:06 remaining. At the end of the first, UMass led Yale 4-1.
Philpott needed only 42 seconds in the second quarter to stretch the lead to four. Yale capitalized on a man up opportunity as Brendan Rooney (3G) scored with 5:39 remaining, but Devin Spencer (2G, 1A) of UMass answered 17 seconds later, on their own man up opportunity. Keeping Pace, Yale scored the last goal of the quarter, an unassisted score from John Danigellis (1G). The big story in the first half wasn’t necessarily the scoring, but the outstanding goalie play by UMass’s Sean Sconone. Sconone made nine saves in the first half, eight more than Yale goaltender Jack Starr. At the half, UMass led Yale 6-3.
It looked like UMass was going to run away with this game, scoring twice in the first five minutes of the second half to stretch the lead to the largest of the afternoon at five. Goals came from Scott Del Zotto (1G) and D. Spencer. Yale dug deep though, and scored four straight to end the quarter, two with a man advantage. Man up goals were scored by Lucas Cotler (1G) and Matt Brandau (1G, 1A). The other two came from Brian Tevlin (1G, 1A) and Gaudet. At the end of the third quarter
Jackson Morrill (1G, 4A) tied the game 8-8 3:55 into the fourth, but the momentum was short lived. With the man up opportunity, Gabriel Procyk (1G) put UMass back up with 7:57 left. That would be the last lead for UMass. In the next two and a half minutes, the Bulldogs scored three straight. Two Rooney goals bookended Jack TIgh’s (1G, 1A) lone goal of the game. The Yale defense held strong until the final minute when Trainor took things into his own hands. Trainor scored two goals in the final minute, the second with less than a second on the clock, after bulldozing his way into the heart of the Bulldog defense. Heading into overtime, Yale and UMass were tied 11-11.
UMass won the overtime faceoff and held possession for quite some time. An illegal crosscheck on Aidan Hynes with 3:07 remaining even gave them a power play chance, but they could not break through. On Yale’s first possession in the extra frame Tevlin found Gaudet on the crease for the game winner with 54 seconds remaining. Final Score: UMass-11, Yale-12
Up Next:
The Yale Bulldogs (2-1) travel to Grady Stadium in Atlanta and play host to the Michigan Wolverines (3-1) on Sunday, March 10 at 1:00 PM EST.
The UMass Minutemen (1-3) travel to play the Albany Great Danes (1-2) on Tuesday, March 5 at 3:00 PM EST.