Yale Pulls Away In Fourth Quarter To Top Princeton

Saturday, March 23

Princeton, N.J.

3:00 PM

Princeton University

2-5, 0-2Ivy

Yale

5-1, 2-0Ivy

YALE

Princeton University

Jamie Atkinson battles Yale's Jack Ocken in the Bulldogs 15-10 win.

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Yale Pulls Away In Fourth Quarter To Top Princeton

March 23, 2019 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

TD Ierlan had an average day, and for him, an average day is 1) better than anyone else's best and 2) game-changing.

Ierlan won 21 of 28 face-offs and added a goal and 17 ground balls to lead Yale to a 15-10 win over Princeton in front of 1,843 at very wind Sherrerd Field Saturday afternoon. Princeton had led 5-3 at halftime and trailed 8-7 at the end of the third quarter before Yale pulled away in the fourth.

Up next for Princeton is a game Tuesday night against Denver, which will mark the return of former head coach Bill Tierney for the first time. Tierney won his 399th career game Saturday as the Pioneers topped Towson 7-6.

Ierlan, who transferred from Albany to Yale after leading the Great Danes to the NCAA Final Four last Memorial Day weekend, is the No. 1 all-time NCAA leader in face-off winning percentage at .752 for his career, so his performance against Princeton was right where it usually is. He also continued Yale's two-decade face-off dominance of Princeton, as the Bulldogs have now won 300 of the last 442 face-offs between the teams.

Princeton was able to neutralize Ierlan in the first half somewhat, since the team's combined for just eight goals. In fact, it was a 1-1 game after the first quarter, which meant there were only three face-offs taken in the first 15 minutes.

Princeton's last lead was 7-6 in the third, on a Michael Sowers goal, but the Bulldogs got two Matt Brandau goals to take an 8-7 lead after three and then outscored the Tigers 7-3 in the final 15 mintues.

Sowers led Princeton with five points on a goal and four assists, while Charlie Durbin and Alexander Vardaro had two goals apiece.