October 1, 2009
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Challenging Weekend Includes Visit from Cornell, Trip to No. 9 UMass

Saturday's Game Part of Team Up to Fight Cancer Weekend

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - As the season hits the halfway point, the Yale field hockey team faces perhaps its toughest set of back-to-back games -- Cornell and No. 9 UMass are a combined 14-2 heading into the weekend. The Big Red visits Johnson Field Saturday for a noon game that is part of Yale Athletics' "Team Up to Fight Cancer" Weekend. The Bulldogs then visit the Minutewomen Sunday for a 3:00 p.m. game.

Yale (5-3, 1-1 Ivy League) has won four of its last five games. With 23 goals in eight games, the Bulldogs are on pace for their best goal output since the 1998 team scored a school-record 55 goals. Senior forward Ashley McCauley (Rye, N.Y.) leads the way with eight goals, while senior midfielder Katie Cantore (Hershey, Pa.) is fourth in the country in assists per game (10 in eight games). Cantore is a key part of the Yale penalty corner unit, and the Bulldogs are leading the country in penalty corners per game (1.75).

The Bulldogs have benefited from increased offensive production from their backfield. Normally known mainly as one of Yale's top defenders, sophomore back Erin Carter (Perkiomenville, Pa.) came through with a pair of goals last weekend. Carter (3-0-6), junior Marissa Waldemore (New Vernon, N.J.) (3-3-9) and senior Julia Weiser (Houston, Texas) (2-4-8) give the Bulldogs three backs among the team's top five in points.

Cornell (7-0, 2-0 Ivy), which is among the teams also receiving votes in the national poll, has won 14 of its last 15 games dating back to last season. That streak began with a 2-1 win over the Bulldogs in Ithaca in which the Big Red overcame a 13-save effort by junior goalkeeper Katie Bolling (Ann Arbor, Mich.). Weiser scored Yale's lone goal.

Attacker Catie De Stio, who had the game-winner against Yale last year, leads Cornell in goals (seven) and points (18). The Big Red also features one of the top goalkeepers in the country in Melanie Jue, a first team All-Ivy League pick last year. Jue, who also plays forward for the Cornell ice hockey team, has an .880 save percentage and a 0.71 goals-against average. Thanks to her work, Cornell has allowed more than one goal in a game just once this season.

Cornell's last four wins have each been by one goal, including three in overtime. The last was a double-overtime win against Columbia in which midfielder Olivia Boyd scored the game-winner as time was expiring.

UMass (7-2) and Yale are renewing a series that was an annual event from 1976 through 1997. The Minutewomen, who play at Syracuse Saturday, have allowed just four goals in their last five games entering the weekend. Three different players have each earned Atlantic-10 Player of the Week honors in the last three weeks: forward Katie Kelly, defender/midfielder Makaela Potts and goalkeeper Alesha Widdall. Kelly leads the team in goals with six, while Potts has a team-high 14 points. Widdall has an .809 save percentage and a 1.04 goals-against average.

 

"Team Up to Fight Cancer Weekend"

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Yale field hockey, volleyball and women's soccer teams will combine efforts this October for the first-ever "Team Up to Fight Cancer" initiative. The teams will be selling t-shirts for $10 and collecting donations at home athletic events throughout the weekend of Oct. 2 to benefit the Yale Cancer Center, with the proceeds being designated for breast cancer research.

The new initiative was organized by head coaches Erin Appleman (volleyball), Rudy Meredith (women's soccer) and Pam Stuper (field hockey). "It has been great to work alongside the other coaches and student-athletes for such a worthy cause," said Appleman. "The athletic department has been very supportive of our efforts, and hopefully the ‘Team Up to Fight Cancer' initiative will become a Yale tradition for years to come".

In addition to gathering donations, the teams attended an informational seminar with Dr. Lyndsay Harris, a breast cancer research specialist from the Yale Cancer Center.

The women's soccer team will be collecting donations during the volleyball team's Ivy League opener at the John Lee Amphitheater against Brown at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2. The volleyball squad will then take over collection duties as the field hockey team hosts Cornell at Johnson Field on Oct. 3 at noon. After the contest with Big Red, the field hockey team will head to Reese Stadium to do its share as the women's soccer team challenges Harvard at 4:30 p.m. Donations may be made in person, via cash or check, at all three events. Special "Team Up to Fight Cancer" t-shirts will also be sold for $10 while supplies last.

Those who cannot attend but would still like to donate to the "Team Up to Fight Cancer" initiative can send checks made payable to Yale University, with "Donation - YCC" noted in the memo, to the address below by Oct. 15.

Through USPS:
Yale Volleyball
P.O. Box 20816
New Haven, CT 06520

Through UPS/FedEx:
Yale Volleyball
20 Tower Parkway
New Haven, CT 06511

 

 

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Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity