M BASKETBALL Cornell 76 Harvard 61
W SWIM & DIVE Harvard 187 Penn 113
SPORTS
ATTENDANCE POLICIES
MELANIE HELLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Yale Athletics has issued a number of updates to fan attendance policies that will influence all members of the Yale community and a number of winter sports. back soon because everybody loves having them there, especially the home games.” Under the new guidelines, all fully-vaccinated members of the Yale community, except undergraduate students, are allowed to attend games with a 50 percent capacity limit on fan attendance. Photo ID and proof of full vaccination — including a booster, if eligible — are required for entry to games at both indoor and outdoor venues. Unlike the Fall 2021 semester, when masking was not required at outdoor sports, masking is now mandatory for all guests regardless of vaccination status. Concessions will not be sold at any games and children aged 11 or under are not permitted within any venues. Indoor sports impacted by this change include basketball, hockey, squash, tennis, track and field, gymnastics and swimming and diving. Lacrosse, an outdoor spring sport, will fall under the same rules. While visitors from outside the
Yale community are forbidden to enter indoor venues such as Ingalls Rink or the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, the rule is not listed for Reese Stadium. “It is definitely upsetting that we won’t be able to have fans at our matches, especially since most of [the] big Ivy matches fall under this policy,” Women’s squash player Yuliia Zhukovets ’23 said. “Especially after more than a year without any sports, not being [able] to have our parents or at least friends is not the best. But we are definitely going into every match with our best attitude and support for each other.” Womens’ squash joined a host of teams forced to postpone or cancel games due to COVID-19 concerns when Stanford’s squad decided against the cross-country trip for a bout with the Bulldogs. Men’s ice hockey postponed games at Princeton and Quinnipiac originally scheduled for the weekend of Jan. 7-8. The Bulldogs now will face the Tigers Feb. 8 and the Bobcats Feb. 22. Women’s ice hockey pushed back games against Sacred Heart, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union to Jan. 18, Jan. 25 and Feb. 8, respectively. Yale womens’ basketball against Dartmouth has been postponed to Jan. 23, while the men’s basketball team had to delay their Ivy opener until their Jan. 15 victory over Cornell. The postponed games against Columbia, Harvard and Dartmouth are now scheduled for Jan. 25, Feb. 9 and Feb. 22, respectively. Men’s’ and women’s fencing were unable to participate in the Penn State Dual Series on Jan. 16 due to complications on the Yale teams. Some fans expressed discontent with the new rules, including the difference between attendance pol-
Swain leads Elis to victory
SEE POLICY PAGE 10
TIM TAI/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Columbia shot just 38.2 percent from the field in the first as the Bulldogs played their best opening minutes of the season.
Yale men’s basketball guard Azar Swain ’22 has led his team in scoring enough times this season — in 12 of 17 games heading into the Bulldogs’ Tuesday night game vs. Columbia — that seeing some 20-plus point total next to his name in the box score is no surprise.
MEN'S BASKETBALL In November, the senior from Brockton, Mass. entered Yale’s 1,000point club. In December, he set what was then a new career-high of 34 points at the Barclays Center, earning a Steph Curry comparison from Iona head coach Rick Pitino. A game later
vs. Monmouth, he became Yale’s alltime leading three-point scorer. During an 83–72 win over Columbia (4–13, 1–4 Ivy) on Tuesday night, Swain added another chapter to a storied final season at Yale (9–9, 3–1), taking the high standards for his performance and raising them a notch. As Yale erupted to an early 20–2 lead within the first seven minutes of play, Swain scored 13 of the Elis’ first 20 points and finished the night with 37 points, another new career best. Guard and captain Jalen Gabbidon ’22 delivered his second consecutive 20-point game in the Bulldogs’ win. Forward Matt Knowling ’24 led the Elis with eight rebounds and four assists and also scored nine points. But SEE M. BASKETBALL PAGE 10
STAT OF THE WEEK
104.8
“We just keep putting in the work in practice and in games and nothing changed — just play the right away and play together. It was awesome” MATT KNOWLING ’24 MEN'S BASKETBALL
Elis jump to 5–1 start in Ivy play BY ANDREW CRAMER STAFF REPORTER The Yale women’s basketball team (12–6, 5–1 Ivy) kicked off its seven game winter break schedule with its final nonconference win against Army (8-8, 3-4 Patriot). The squad then opened conference play with a loss at Columbia (13-3, 4-0 Ivy), but recovered with a stretch of five consecutive victories in the games since.
W. BASKETBALL The Bulldogs currently sit in third place in the Ivy League, just one loss behind Columbia and Princeton (13–4, 5–0). Over the break, the Blue and White found different ways to win. In comfortable double-digit victories against Army, Cornell (6–10, 1–4), Penn (7–9, 2–2) and Dartmouth (1–16, 0–5), defense was the key as the
Bulldogs held their opponents to 53 points or less in each of these games. A rivalry game against Harvard (9–9, 3–3) on Jan. 8 turned into an offensive showcase as the Eli offense erupted for its highest output of the season in an 80–73 victory. Elles van der Maas ’24 came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points. “Elles consistently comes off the bench ready to shoot the ball,” teammate Camilla Emsbo ’23 said. “And she knows that she’s an incredible shooter and she’s ready to pull at any time. And that was massive against Harvard. She came in and she took pride in her abilities and she did what she had to do.” Nine days later, the team found itself in a tied game late against Brown (5–12, 0–5). To make matters worse, Emsbo, the Elis’ leading SEE W. BASKETBALL PAGE 10
MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM
The women’s basketball team was kicking off 2022 busy with the start of Ivy League play.
No. 8 Yale wins 3 straight over break BY ROSA BRACERAS AND SPENCER KING STAFF REPORTERS The Yale women’s hockey team (14–4–1, 8–3–1 ECAC) was busy in the early weeks of 2022. In its last five games, No. 8 Yale shook the dust off and continued its competitive play with a record of 4–1.
HOCKEY
BY WILLIAM MCCORMACK STAFF REPORTER
W BASKETBALL Columbia 57 Cornell 46
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2022 · yaledailynews.com
TENNIS SEASON PREVIEW After a productive fall season spent improving skills and building bonds, the Yale men’s and women’s tennis teams look forward to returning to the court and showing off their competitiveness in the quest for an Ivy title.
Yale Athletics changes fan policies
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country, Yale Athletics updated fan attendance policies on Jan. 12th to go into effect from Jan. 17 through Feb. 21. Yale Athletics released changes to their fan policy on Jan. 4 and updated guidelines further last week to flesh out restrictions regarding vaccination status, community attendance and capacity limits. These revisions impact all home games. From the start of the new year until Jan. 17, games were played without any fans in attendance and until in-person instruction resumes on Feb. 7th, undergraduate students will not be able to attend matches. “It’s a situation we just have to get through and deal with,” Yale men’s basketball forward Isaiah Kelly ’23 said after the Bulldogs’ 96–69 triumph over Cornell. “Hopefully we can get the fans
M SWIM & DIVE Brown 194 Columbia 100
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M HOCKEY COMEBACK KIDS In two games on the road, the Elis defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College, claiming their third and fourth ECAC conference wins. The Bulldogs will hope to extend this streak at the Connecticut Ice tournament this weekend.
BY HAMERA SHABBIR STAFF REPORTER
M SQUASH Columbia 7 Dartmouth 2
The Bulldogs opened the new year with a 4–2 win at Dartmouth (8–13–0, 2–12–0) on Jan. 14, marking the Bulldogs’ first game in more than a month, and the team had to work hard to stay sharp. “The break from games is definitely long but it’s nice to have the time to recharge a bit and get ready for the second half of the season,” said forward Charlotte Welch ’23. “Because we have a uniquely larger team this year numbers-wise, we are able to scrimmage in practice which is super helpful in getting ready for games after a long time off.” The next day, the Bulldogs stumbled against No. 6 Harvard (14–5–0, 6–2–0), losing 3–1 in Cambridge after beating the Crimson 3–1 earlier this season at The Whale in November. Harvard scored early in the game with two goals in the first five minutes of play. Shortly after Yale went down 1–0, defenseman Olivia Muhn ’25 was sent to the penalty box for checking. Just 22 seconds later, captain Greta Skarzynski ’22 joined Muhn in the box for tripping. While the Bulldogs attempted to fight off the 5-on-3 penalty kill, the Crimson
managed to score the second goal of the night. Three minutes later, Welch cut Harvard’s lead in half with a backhand shot from the top of the crease that went five-hole. The score remained 2–1 after the second. After a hard fought second period, Yale pulled goalie Gianna Meloni ’22 from net with less than 90 seconds to go in the game. During the 6-on-5 play, Yale managed to secure five shots; however, their efforts were not enough. Harvard scored an empty net goal with just seven seconds left to solidify the 3–1 loss for Yale. After the Harvard defeat, the Bulldogs looked to rebound against a Sacred Heart team (10–10–1, 5–4–1 NEWHA) they had already beaten twice: once on the road 7–0 and once on neutral ice at the Nutmeg Classic 4–1.
The Bulldogs looked to rebound against the familiar opponent, and left the ice satisfied with a 6–0 win on January 18. The Elis’ offense shined with Kiersten Goode ’24 and Elle Hartje ’24 each scoring two goals. The Bulldogs shelled the Pioneers’ net all night, ending with 53 shots on goal. Meanwhile, on the defensive end, goalie Pia Dukaric ’25 made 17 saves for her second shutout of the season. After the 6–0 win against Sacred Heart, the Bulldogs faced fierce competition from No. 9 Colgate (18–5–1, 8–3–1) on January 21. Meloni stood on her head to help secure Yale’s 3–0 win with her fifth shutout of the season after facing a total of 26 shots and shutting down three power-plays. “The team was really dialed in for the Colgate game and played a SEE HOCKEY PAGE 10
MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM
The Bulldogs go 4-1 in the last two weeks with games against Dartmouth, No. 6 Harvard, Sacred Heart, No. 9 Colgate, Cornell.
THE AVERAGE MARGIN OF VICTORY FOR THE YALE WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING TEAM OVER IVY LEAGUE OPPONENTS.
