PRINCETON, N.J. — Both top-seeded Yale and third-seeded Princeton earned wins on Friday night to advance to Sunday's title game, setting up a rematch of last year's championship matchup.
YALE 11, BROWN 6
In the first semifinal of the night, Yale defended their home field at Reese Stadium, defeating Brown 11-6, to pick up their 13th overall win of the season.
The Bears struck first thanks to a goal from Caroline Nozzolillo, but that was the only lead that the Bears would have for the game as Yale answered quickly with goals from Ashley Newman and Ashley Kiernan to take a 2–1 lead after the first quarter.
From there, the Bulldogs took control in the second quarter behind two goals from Kelly Holmes and another from Whitney Froeb, building a 5-1 advantage before Brown ended the scoring run midway through the second quarter. However, Yale's Meg Bohan’s scored late into the quarter to send Yale into halftime ahead 6-2.
Yale stretched the lead in the third, with Kiernan, Nell Ducey, and Kaitlyn Roth scoring in a decisive three-goal run that pushed the margin to 9–2. Afterwards, Brown made a charge and closed the quarter strongly with goals from Marley Wright and Riley Peterson, then added two more early in the fourth to make it 9-6, but Ducey and Kiernan shut down the comeback with back-to-back fourth-quarter goals, sealing the 11–6 win. Kiernan led Yale with three goals and an assist, while Ducey and Holmes each scored twice. Yale outshot Brown 35–18 and put 20 shots on goal.
PRINCETON 15, PENN 10
In the second semifinal, Princeton overcame a fast Penn start to defeat the Quakers 15–10 and punch their ticket into Sunday's championship game.
Penn opened the game with four straight goals, including two from Catherine Berkery, to take a commanding lead just five minutes into the contest. Princeton, however, answered right back with three late first-quarter goals, two of which came from Meg Morrisroe, to cut the deficit to 4-3.
The Tigers took over in the second quarter, outscoring Penn 7-1 to flip the script. Merrill Watson tied it early in the period, Becca Kirschner evened the score again at 5-5, and Jami MacDonald’s back-to-back goals gave Princeton its first lead. Morrisroe capped the surge with two more goals, sending Princeton into halftime ahead 10-5.
Princeton kept control after the break, stretching the lead to 14-8 by the end of the third quarter. Morrisroe and MacDonald each finished with four goals, while Haven Dora powered the attack with a goal and seven assists. Maggie Molnar added two goals, and Colette Quinn sealed the scoring late in the fourth.
Penn continued to battle behind Berkery’s four goals and Eden Welch’s hat trick, but the Quakers could not fully recover from Princeton’s second-quarter run.