NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 3 Yale men's lacrosse team dominated the possession game and kept the Big Red from ever being able to put together a run as it defeated No. 4 Cornell, 16-11, in the Ivy League opener for both teams.
 
Clarke Petterson (four goals, two assists) and John Piatelli (four goals, one assist) led an offense that was stymied early on by Yale goalie Jack Starr, who posted six first half goals on the way to nine for the day.
 
Jeff Teat tallied one goal and one assist, while Jonathan Donville and Colton Rupp chipped in one goal each. With his helper on Rupp's man-up goal, Teat registered his 200th career point to become just the fourth player in Big Red history to amass 200 points in a career.
 
In goal, Big Red freshman Chayse Ierlan finished strong, posting seven saves in the final quarter to give the Big Red a chance, but after a goal by Teat made it a 14-9 game with 7:06 to play, the Bulldogs responded, as they seemed to do all game, with back-to-back goals to end the Cornell threat.
 
Ierlan posted a career-high 15 saves in the loss.
 
Yale (4-1) relied on Matt Brandau and Matt Gaudet for nearly all of its scoring as the duo registered six and five goals, respectively. Gaudet was particularly opportunistic with a pair of goals coming in the waning seconds of the second and third quarters, and two others coming after the Big Red defense put the ball on the turf.
 
Bulldog face-off man TD Ierlan won 24-of-30 restarts and picked up 17 ground balls. He was harassed into four turnovers but still proved to be the difference as his timely wins kept the Big Red from gaining any momentum after a score.
 
Yale also held the advantage in shots (46-33) and ground balls (39-34) but was held to an 0-of-4 performance on man-up chances, while Cornell converted 4-of-6.
 
Cornell (4-2) will return to Schoellkopf Field to play its first midweek game of the season as it welcomes first-year program St. Bonaventure for a 5 p.m. contest on Tuesday, March 19.