Bulldogs Knockout Dartmouth 4-1
October 8, 2011
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith got exactly the response he was looking for from his young team Saturday against Dartmouth.
Last week against Harvard, the Bulldogs scored the first goal of the game but couldn’t add to the lead. The Crimson eventually tied it and got the game-winner on a penalty kick after the referee called a questionable hand ball in the box.
The Bulldogs were determined not to leave it in the referee’s hands again. Yale scored twice in both halves and cruised to a 4-1 win over the Big Green on a mild fall night at Reese Stadium.
Meredith was so determined to get his message across to his team that he had t-shirts printed with the slogan “knock-out, no decision” on them. He also showed the team a videotape of boxer Roy Jones Jr at the 1988 Olympics. Jones dominated the gold medal bout, but couldn’t get the knockout. He then watched as the judges stunningly awarded the decision to his opponent.
“We tried to turn a negative into a positive,” Meredith explained. “We wanted to put ourselves in a position where no one decision could affect the outcome.”
Melissa Gavin, Kristen Forster, Enma Mullo and Mary Kubiuk were the goal scorers for the Bulldogs (5-4-2, 2-1 Ivy).
Gavin got Yale on the board first at 19:08 when she settled a Mullo feed and blasted a left-footed shot into the top left corner from 20 yards out.
The Bulldogs added to the lead a little more than 10 minutes later. Gavin slid a pass forward to Forster, who split the defense and slipped a shot inside the far post.
Mullo then scored on a free kick from 20 yards at 61:12.
Dartmouth spoiled the shutout bid when Emma Brush scored at 77:53, but Yale answered less than two minutes later. Frannie Coxe headed a ball forward to Kubiuk, who dribbled down the right wing, and fired a shot that got past Dartmouth goalkeeper Sam Fearer at 79:49.
Yale, which won four of its last six games, scored its four goals on only 10 shots.
“When we get 50 percent of our shots on goal, we hardly ever lose,” Meredith said.
Goalkeepers Adele Jackson-Gibson and Elise Cox both made one save for the Bulldogs.
Yale returns home next Saturday, hosting Cornell at 3:30 p.m.
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