On Saturday, women’s lacrosse tied its wins from the 2018 season and surpassed last year’s total number of conference wins. And there are still four regular-season games yet to be played.
The 18-12 win over Yale (4-6, 0-4 Ivy League) marked the Red’s (7-4, 3-1 Ivy League) twelfth consecutive takedown of the Bulldogs.
Cornell didn’t wait even three minutes before getting on the board with a goal by sophomore Ellie Walsh. The Red went on to extend its lead to 3-0 with goals by senior Tomasina Leska and junior Caroline Allen before Yale scored its first point.
But the Red answered with three more of its own by Walsh, freshman Shannon Brazier and senior Shannon Bertscha.
The scoring was more back-and-forth for the remainder of the half. Yale scored five more, but the Red matched it with Allen, sophomore Grace Paletta, freshman Genevieve DeWinter and senior Sarah Phillips all putting one in the net. Walsh scored with 14 seconds left in the half to secure herself a hat trick.
The Red would lead, 11-6, going into the second half.
Less than four minutes after the break, Leska scored her second goal of the day with a free position goal. Yale responded with a goal of its own but the Red then countered as DeWinter scored for her second goal of the day.
The Bulldogs went on a 4-0 run to shrink the lead to 13-11. This would be the closest the game would come before its finale, as the Red then went on its third 3-0 run of the game. Paletta scored one of those goals, and Allen put the other two on the board.
The Bulldogs scored once more before the contest was over, but the Red scored twice, with goals by Paletta and Bertscha, to take a decisive win.
Allen, Walsh and Paletta each had hat tricks in the victory.
Notably, the Red was 15-17 in draw controls against Yale, which has one of the nation’s top draw controllers in Izzy Nixon. Paletta controlled 6 of those draws for the Red.
This was the third consecutive game that the Red won by six or more points.
Cornell will aim to continue its dominance next Saturday when it faces Brown at home at 1 p.m.