Yale Tops Cornell in Plate Final

Yale topped Cornell 20-10 in the Plate Final of the 2015 Ivy 15s Tournament in Hanover, NH on Sunday. The Bulldogs shut out Penn 72-0 the day before. The following write-ups are by Yale coach Craig Wilson.

Yale 20 Cornell 10 (Plate final)

Try's: Alina Yaman, Becky Connelly, Angela Henderson and Eshe Sherley

We were excited to play Cornell in the plate final as we were left slightly frustrated after our close defeat in week 2. On that day, our own mistakes were punished by Cornell and we were determined not to allow our own mistakes to be our undoing this time around. 

Our analysis on Cornell highlighted how they like to kick the ball and allow a very fast winger to chase. We worked hard on putting pressure on the kicker as well as shutting down their speedster's space. If we let her get away we were in trouble as she is a top-class finisher.

I was really happy with our defense and how we dealt exceptionally well with their two main threats (10 and winger). In attack, it was all about intensity and phrase play. We managed to sustained pressure by keeping the ball for long periods of time. We had many chances to score but we switched off at key moments and lost the opportunity. To make the next step in our development, this is an area we will work on. However, credit must go to Cornell's defensive effort as they threw everything at us.

We conceded a consolation try in the last play of the game but this did not take away from the remarkable turnaround Yale has had this season. From winning no games in three years to winning the plate is testament on how hard the ladies have worked both physically and mentally. They deserve all the credit they are getting.

Yale 72 UPenn 0 (Plate semi final)

Despite the score, UPenn really put up a physical battle and we had to adopt our game plan accordingly to over come their tough defense. In the second half, we decided to play slightly wider to expose Penn's tight and powerful tacklers. The shift in gameplay worked well and we pulled away in the second half scoring some really well worked try's.