Lacrosse Falls to Yale, Still Searching for Ivy Win

The Ivy League frustration continued for Columbia lacrosse. And now they’ll have some stew over this loss.

Sophomore Maggie Via scored twice and tied Columbia’s single-season assist record with her eighth helper, but it was not enough, as the Lions fell to Yale on Wednesday afternoon, 18-4.

The loss dropped Columbia lacrosse back under .500 at 6-7 (0-6 Ivy) with two games remaining in the season. But the Light Blue won’t suit up for another eight days when they take on the Harvard Crimson in the Ivy League finale.

Certainly Columbia will not be sorry to see the league schedule end. The Lions are 6-1 in their non-conference games but have yet to come close against a conference opponent. The Lions are 0-6 this season against Ivy foes and, while they have competed well in most of those games, have not been close on the scoreboard.

“The Ivy League is the toughest league there is,” Via said. “Almost all of them are ranked.”

Yet first-year defender Whitney Booker admits that “Yale actually did not look as strong of a team as I expected them to be.”

The Bulldogs, whose lacrosse team is ranked 12th in the country, were never in trouble against the Lions. They scored on sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Valadez just 24 seconds into the game and took a 9-2 lead into halftime. The Bulldogs would outscore the Lions by the same margin in the second half. Yale (8-2, 4-1) outshot the Lions 37-21 in the game, and 10 Bulldogs posted one or more goals in the contest.

“We played really well with [Yale] for a while,” Via said noting the team’s efforts, “and then once we got down, we couldn’t get back.”

In addition to Via, sophomore midfielder Ellen Lowrey and junior attacker Liz Gilroy also scored for the Lions. Booker continued her strong season causing five Yale turnovers. The game’s positives have given the team reason to believe in themselves.

“As a team, we’re all scoring so much more this year and doing so much better offensively,” Via said.

Of the team’s chances against Harvard, Via added, “I know we can do it.”

So, in eight days, the Lions will have their last chance to break the five-year Ivy League jinx on the program. The Lions are zero for 34 in their five full seasons as a league member in women’s lacrosse.

“We’re putting everything we got into beating Harvard, [and] we’re expecting to come up with a win,” Booker said.