After starting with a 2-5 record during its non-conference schedule, the men's lacrosse team went into its Saturday afternoon matchup at Yale looking to generate some momentum for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, Brown fell behind early and never recovered, dropping its Ivy League opener 14-8.
"We've kind of seen the end of games spiral out of control, and that's happened a lot this year," said defenseman and co-captain Rob Cotter '06. "A lot of it is just a matter of building confidence and recreating the chemistry we saw in the beginning of the season."
On Saturday, the Bears knew they would have to contend with midfielder Dan Kallaugher - one of the best faceoff men in the country - as well as pick up their fair share of ground balls in order to have a chance at victory. Bruno accomplished neither. The Bulldogs picked up 32 ground balls to Brown's 19 and won a whopping 19-of-26 faceoffs.
"We knew that it was going to be a struggle to win faceoffs but you feel that you want to come away with at least 40 percent of them," Cotter said. "The little things are what matter in deciding games, especially in the Ivy League. Not being able to come through on faceoffs or ground balls is a big reason why we've been struggling."
It did not help that Cotter, one of the team's faceoff specialists, was out with a concussion for the Yale game, leaving Brown with an even steeper uphill climb.
"Without Rob Cotter it made it even worse," said Head Coach Scott Nelson. "That, combined with our play on the defensive end, really hurt us."
Yale won six of seven faceoffs in the opening period en route to a 4-2 lead after one quarter. Attackman Tyler Gaffney '07, making his first start of the season, cut the deficit in half 37 seconds into the second quarter, but the Bulldogs responded with three unanswered goals for a 7-3 advantage at halftime.
"It was 5-3 and we were playing good defense and they threw a bad pass that deflected off of one of our players and in," Nelson said of the second quarter. "Then we put the ball on the ground and they threw it into an open net. They got a few cheap ones that were pretty demoralizing. You have to give credit to Yale (though), they played very well."
Attackman Dave Madeira '07 did all he could to keep Brown in the game with a series of goals, but the four-goal halftime deficit was too much to overcome. Yale outscored the visitors 7-5 in the second half to walk away with the 14-8 victory.
The loss was the Bears' fourth straight and dropped them to 2-6 overall (0-1 Ivy League). Even with its recent struggles, Bruno is by no means preparing to just play out its remaining schedule.
"It's important always to play with a little bit of desperation, but at the same time we don't need to lose focus and go into games so desperate that we end up playing out of control," Cotter said. "While we are 0-1 in the Ivies we know that we have five important games ahead of us and we think that we can win some of those games. We need to stay poised, focused and a little desperate."
Brown's next game is Tuesday night against Harvard at Stevenson Field. The annual match-up always generates emotion, especially this year, as it is the Bears' first home game in over three weeks.
"We're all excited to get home. Playing during the week and under the lights is something everyone looks forward to," Cotter said. "This is the game we look forward to each season. There's a lot of energy and emotion involved, and hopefully it will turn into a win for us and a turning point for the rest of the season."
