Yale Basketball concluded an impressive regular season with an 11-3 in the Ivy League record and a share of the Ivy League Title. In a single-game playoff that went down to the wire, Yale came up just short of its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1962. The 22 win season is the most the team has posted in more than 60 years. Several key members of the 2015 squad were honored post-season. Senior Javier Duren, who finished his career with 1,134 points and is eighth all-time at Yale with 314 career assists, was selected to the first team All-Ivy and second team NABC All-District. Junior Justin Sears, who finished fourth in the league in scoring (14.3 ppg.), third in rebounding (7.5 rpg.), second on blocked shots (73) and fifth in field goal percentage (.512), was named Honorable Mention All-America and Ivy League Player of the Year. In his 16th season leading the Bulldogs, James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men’s Basketball, was named 2015 Ivy League Coach of the Year and NABC District 13 Coach of the Year.
Yale Hockey captured an Ivy League Championship and finished third in the ECAC during the regular season. The Bulldogs went on to make their fifth appearance in the NCAA tournament in the last seven years as the fourth seed out of the Northeast Region. Yale lost a close game against Boston University and the nation’s best rated offense. Standout sophomore goalie, Alex Lyon, was named FirstTeam AHCA/CCM All-America, First-Team All-ECAC, FirstTeam All-New England and First-Team All-Ivy League while leading the nation in goals against (1.62), save percentage (.939) and shutouts (7), all of which are school records. Freshman forward Ryan Hitchcock was selected as Rookie of the Year and Malcolm G. Chace head coach. Keith Allain, was named 2015 Ivy League Coach of the Year.
Have you heard? Yale Athletics running a participation challenge, The Drive for Elis, and is awarding the two associations who post the largest increase participation percentage and most new donors from their alumni and friends $10,000 each! The standings through the end of March are included below and on yalebulldogs.com — competition for first place is heating up. It’s not too late to make your gift the one the counts!
Yale Baseball is playing its 150th season which started on September 30, 1865. The Bulldogs have amassed a total 10 EIBL titles, six Ivy League titles, and 24 graduates who played (or currently play) in the Major Leagues. View the gallery http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-basebl/2014-15/ photos/0001/index
Yale will commemorate the long and proud tradition of the program by hosting a weekend full of events, including playing inaugural opponent Wesleyan University on Saturday, September 26, 2015. Save the Date!
On June 6-7, alumni from Harvard and Yale will gather to celebrate the 150th running of the Harvard-Yale Regatta! Join us on Saturday, June 6 for joint alumni races at the Harvard Boathouse and a cocktail reception and dinner at the Coast Guard Academy. On Sunday, June 7 races will run as follows: 3V at 9:45a, 2V at 10:30a and 1V at 11:30a; with a Yale Crew Association lunch to follow racing on the lawn at Gales Ferry. Register here: http://www.cvent.com/d/trqzc0/4W
The Ray Tompkins Associates Athletic Directors Excellence Fund addresses the most urgent needs across all sports. Please consider making an additional gift in support of the RTA Fund. To do so, you can mail payment and the appeal form included with this newsletter to Yale Athletics P.O. Box 1844, New Haven, CT 06508-1844, or make a gift online at www.yalebulldogs.com/give.html. Thank you for supporting Yale Athletics!
Yale Gymnastics wrapped an impressive and record breaking season as the highest scoring team in school history with an average team score of 191.435. The team hosted and finished third at the ECAC Championships; they were buoyed by several career high individual performances including Camila Opperman — floor champion, Morgan Traina — 2nd place bars, 2nd place beam, 3rd place AA and Tatianna Winkelman — 5th place bars. With their strong showing the team qualified for the USAG Collegiate Nationals, where Opperman, Traina and Joyce Li each competed in individual event finals and earned All-America honors.
Each year, Yale Athletic Associations host a number of special events including annual dinners, cocktail receptions, alumni/ae days, mentoring nights, anniversary celebrations, and more. These are incredible opportunities to reconnect with former teammates, engage with current Yale athletes and have some fun while honoring your program! The best way to ensure you are receiving invitations to these events is to update your information with AYA. You can do so easily, by visiting aya.yale.edu and following the instructions below:
Baseball Association Lead Off Dinner
Hover over ‘Connect’ on the top menu, Select ‘Online Services,’ Select ‘Online Alumni Directory,’ Select ‘View/Update Your Alumni Directory Listing.’ Use your ID if you know it, retrieve it if you forgot it, or register for the first time.
40th Anniversary of Women’s Swimming & Diving
Field Hockey Association Mentoring Night
MEN'S BASKETBALL Justin Sears (Jr.) – Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America; Ivy League Player of the Year; First Team All-Ivy; USBWA All-District I first team; NABC All-District 13 First Team; Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List; MVP of Men Against Breast Cancer Classic; Five time Ivy League Player of Week; Blue Ribbon Ivy League Preseason Player of Year Javier Duren (Sr.) – First Team All-Ivy; NABC All-District 13 First Team; Nominated To Allstate Good Works Team; Three-time Ivy League Player of Week selection; Named to CollegeSportsMadness preseason All-Ivy third team Matt Townsend (Sr.) – Rhodes Scholar; Academic All-America of the Year in Division I men’s basketball; Capital One Academic All-America 1st team selection; Senior Class Award Candidate; Academic All-District 1 Jack Montague (Jr.) – Men Against Breast Cancer Classic All-Tournament team selection Makai Mason (Fr.) – Ivy League Rookie of Week, 1/12 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Tamara Simpson (Fr., G): Ivy League Rookie of the Week (1/19, 2/2, 3/9), Ivy League Honor Roll (12/1, 12/8, 12/22, 1/12), ECAC Rookie of the Week for Division I New England (3/9). Whitney Wyckoff (Jr., G): All-Ivy Honorable Mention, Ivy League Honor Roll (2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/2) GYMNASTICS Anna Merkuryev (Fr.) – ECAC Rookie of the Year; ECAC All-Academic Team; ECAC Rookie of the Week (Jan. 25) Joyce Li (Sr.) – ECAC Scholar Athlete of the Year; ECAC All-Academic Team Morgan Traina (Sr.) - ECAC Scholar Athlete of the Year; ECAC All-Academic Team Allison Bushman (Fr.) - ECAC All-Academic Team; ECAC Coaches Choice (Feb. 1) MEN’S HOCKEY Alex Lyon (So, G): First-Team AHCA/CCM All-America (East); Ken Dryden Award (ECAC Goalie of Year); Mike Richter Award Finalist (3); First-Team AllECAC; First-Team All-Ivy League; ECAC Goalie of the Week (Nov. 17, Feb. 2); Liberty Hockey Invitational MVP; Tim Taylor Cup (MVP, Y-H game at Boston); First-Team All-New England Ryan Hitchcock (Fr, F): Ivy League Rookie of the Year Rob O’Gara (Jr, D): First-Team AHCA/CCM All-America (East); ECAC Defensive Defenseman Award; First-Team All-ECAC; First-Team All-Ivy League; FirstTeam All New England Mike Doherty (So, F): First-Team All-Ivy League John Hayden (So, F): Second-Team All-Ivy League WOMEN’S HOCKEY Hanna Åström (Jr.) - ECAC Hockey Player of the Week (1/6) Kaimie Leonoff (Sr.) - Honorable Mention All-Ivy League; ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week (2/24) Eden Murray (Fr.) - ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week (2/17) Courtney Pensavalle (Fr.) - ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week (2/3, 11/25, 11/11)
Jackie Raines (Sr.) - Second Team All-Ivy League Phoebe Staenz (So.) - Member of Team Switzerland at IIHF Women’s World Championship, Preseason All-ECAC Hockey Krista Yip-Chuck (So.) - ECAC Hockey Player of the Week (2/24) MEN’S SQUASH Sam Fenwick (Jr.) – All-Ivy Team WOMEN’S SQUASH Shihui Mao (Sr.) – All-Ivy Team; 2nd Team All-American Jenny Scherl (So.) – All-Ivy Team; 2nd Team All-American Issey Norman-Ross (Sr.) – 2nd Team All-American MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING Rob Harder (Sr.) – 1st Team All-Ivy (200 backstoke); 2nd Team (800 freestyle relay) Brian Hogan (Jr.) – 2nd Team All-Ivy (1000 freestyle); 2nd Team (800 freestyle relay) Kei Hyogo (Fr.) – 2nd Team All-Ivy (1,650 freestyle); 2nd Team (800 freestyle relay) Jonathan Rutter (Fr.) – 2nd Team (800 freestyle relay) WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING Eva Fabian (Jr.) – 1st Team All-Ivy (1000 freestyle) (1,650 freestyle); 2nd Team All-Ivy (800 freestyle relay) Sydney Hirschi (So.) – 2nd Team All-Ivy (400 IM) Olivia Jameson (So.) - 2nd Team All-Ivy (800 freestyle relay) Pauline Kaminski (Fr.) – 1st Team All-Ivy (100 breaststroke) (200 breaststroke) (200 medley relay) (400 medley relay) Danielle Liu (Fr.) – 2nd Team All-Ivy (200 freestyle relay (800 freestyle relay) Lilybet MacRae (So.) – 2nd Team All-Ivy (1 meter diving) (3 meter diving) Cailley Silbert (Fr.) – 1st Team All-Ivy (1.650 freestyle); 2nd Team All-Ivy (1000 freestyle) Heidi VanderWel (Fr.) – 1st Team All-Ivy (200 medley relay) (400 medley relay) Amy Zhao (Fr.) – 2nd Team All-Ivy (200 freestyle relay) Kina Zhou (So.) – 1st Team All-Ivy (100 freestyle relay) Maddy Zimmerman (Fr.) – 1st Team All-Ivy (100 butterfly) Men’s Track and Field Paedyn Gomes (Fr.) - ECAC Rookie of the Week (March 25); Marc-Andre Alexandre So.) – All East Honors James Randon (So.) – All East Honors Brendan Sullivan (Jr.) – All East Honors Women’s Track and Field Kira Garry (Sr.) – All East Honors Emily Waligurski (So.) – All East Honors Grace Brittan (Jr.) – All East Honors Shannon McDonnell (Jr.) – All East Honors
Thanks to a generous donor Yale Football established the David D. Kelley Defensive Line Coach, named for the longtime, beloved former assistant coach who worked under Carm Cozza from 1973 to 1996. Naming a coaching position is a great way to have a lasting impact on your favorite program! Thank you to all of the generous donors who have helped make progress toward our goal of fully endowing the entire varsity sport operation. To view all of the naming opportunities for endowment and capital support visit: http://giftguide.yale.edu/beneficiary/show/1