Albany men’s lacrosse falls to Yale in national semifinal 20-11
Seniors struggle on the big stage and the best season in program history ends
FOXBOROUGH, MASS. — By the end of the first quarter, Yale had rolled out seven goals before Albany found the back of the net as Yale jumped out to a 7-0 lead and did not look back, ending Albany’s historic season.
The “Dane Train” fell flat as Yale converted 7 of 11 shots on net in the first 15 minutes while Albany seemed completely confused. The final score of 20-11 doesn’t give Yale the credit they deserve for Matt Gaudet and Ben Reeve’s complete control of the Albany defense. The two Yale standouts accounted for 11 combined goals.
There was a flash of hope as Albany pulled to within four in the third as Connor Fields came alive with back-to-back man-up goals. However, Yale answered with five unanswered goals to close the quarter up by ten.
Tehoka Nanticoke’s lone goal happened in the fourth leaving Albany with eleven total goals for the day. TD Lerian, the national leader in faceoff winning percentage was held to just 18 of 33 draws and a single goal in the second quarter.
Albany head coach Scott Marr lamented for the team’s seniors, “Just have to thank my seniors, and you have Connor here, but he’s one of 11 seniors that have contributed to our program to an amazing level, three quarterfinals appearances, a Final Four appearance, and an opportunity to play for a National Championship, and that’s all you can ask of your kids. I was, again, thrilled to have Connor come back and play after injuring himself earlier in the year. You people have no idea what this young man has been through for the last month and a half, and I could not be more proud of him for leading our team and being a warrior and playing with a really serious injury.”
Connor Fields addressed the teams performance after the game, not pulling any punches, “We had a lot of mental errors on the offensive end, just throwing the ball away, a couple missed passes, forcing some stuff. I think we kind of went out with a game plan and didn’t execute that game plan. They played great defense, but I think we just left a lot on the table out there.”
Marr summed up the season for his team in the locker room, ” The result isn’t why you do it, you know, why you coach. At the end of the day, it doesn’t diminish how hard we worked, what kind of kids we have, the character that we have.”
The Danes finish the best season in program history with a final record of 16-3.