NEW HAVEN, Conn. —Tied with Yale at 6-6 five minutes into the second half, the women's lacrosse team reeled off nine unanswered goals on its way to a 15-6 Ivy League route of the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at Reese Field. The win – Cornell's fifth straight – moves the Big Red to 6-1 overall (3-0 Ivy) while Yale drops to 5-4 (1-2 Ivy).

Yale jumped out to an early 2-0 lead just 1:14 into the game but free-position conversions from senior Catie Smith – who deftly dodged through traffic before firing the ball home for the first goal of her career – and junior Taylor Reed pulled the Big Red back even. The hosts then stretched out their lead to 5-2 before Reed's second of the game cut it back to a two-goal deficit with 16:24 to play in the first half.

After combining for eight goals in the first 14 minutes of play, the offenses on both sides stagnated. Neither team was able to find the net for the remainder the half and Cornell faced just its third halftime deficit of the season, 5-3.

But 2:17 into the second half, senior Amie Dickson converted a free-position – bouncing her shot off the turf and between the left post and goalkeeper Sydney Marks – and set off the Big Red's largest scoring run of the season.

Junior Joey Coffy tied the score at 5-5 and then gave Cornell its first lead of the day when she got the ball at the top of the arc, faked out a Bulldog and fired a shot between two closing defenders.Though Yale tied the game again off the ensuing draw, the Bulldogs had no answer for the offensive outburst from Cornell.

With 20:51 to play, Coffy drove towards the net to draw in two defenders and then lofted a pass to Kristy Gilbert that the senior calmly slotted home past Marks for the 7-6 lead – for not only the game-winning goal but the first of nine-straight for Cornell.

Dickson converted two more free-positions while Gilbert and Coffy each tacked on one more score each. The Big Red also received two goals from sophomore Sarah Phillips and one each from senior Catherine Ellis and junior Ida Farinholt to close out the game with the final 15-6 score line.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Renee Poullott made 10 saves in the crease - marking the fourth time this season that the senior and the Big Red defense has held the opponent to six-or-less goals - and held the two top scorers in the Ancient Eight - Hope Hanley and Tess McEvoy - to one goal each, though Hanley added three assists. Marks finished with 11 saves for the Bulldogs while Allie Carrigan finished with three in relief.

The Bulldogs had a 14-9 edge in draw controls but Cornell outshot Yale, 39-27, and picked up more ground balls, 23-17. 

Eight different players found the score sheet for Cornell. Coffy and Dickson both finished with four points on three goals and one assist while Coffy also scooped up one ground ball and caused one turnover. Reed added a game-high seven ground balls and two draw controls to her two goals. Ellis and Farinholt each had one goal and one assist, while Phillips and Gilbert finished two goals each. In addition to her goal, Smith added two draw controls, two ground balls and one caused turnover.

The Big Red will next travel to Rutgers for a non-conference matchup with the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, April 1.