PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Yale scored eight-consecutive second half goals to advance to the Ivy League championship with a 10-6 victory at No. 9 Brown.
The No. 11 Bulldogs (10-4), who seek their third Ivy Tournament title and the corresponding automatic berth into the NCAA tournament on Sunday, were led with four points from Conrad Oberbeck. The Tewaaraton Award nominee is now in sole possession of fourth place on the Yale career scoring chart with 176 points. Jeff Cimbalista scored three goals during the Bulldogs' post-half run, while Ben Reeves, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, had two points to tie the Yale record for freshmen scoring.
Brown (12-4), which entered the contest ranked third in the NCAA in scoring offense, jumped out to a 3-0 after the first 15 minutes. The hosts outshot the Bulldogs 14-4 (6-1 on goal) in the first period.
The Bears opened the scoring 1:20 into the semifinal when Dylan Molloy, the Ivy League Co-Player of the Year, danced his way through the Yale defense for an unassisted goal. Bruno added to its lead midway through the period when Kylor Bellistri deposited a Brendan Caputo feed into the net. Tim Jacob scored unassisted at the 12:12 mark to increase the lead. The senior opened the second quarter scoring 1:54 in with his second of the night. Nick Pioli had the helper.
The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard with 9:38 left in the first half when Reeves bounced one through the legs of Brown goalie Jack Kelly. Mark Glicini assisted on the freshman's 22nd goal of the year. Yale followed up when Sean Shakespeare fired home an Oberbeck dish at the 11:05 mark. Prioli reestablished the three-goal cushion with 1:54 left in the first half.
At intermission, Yale was being outshot 21-13 and had won just one-of-nine face-offs. Yale goalie Eric Natale was keeping the Bulldogs in it, making six first-half saves.
Brown junior Will Gural won and scored off the second-half face-off. From there, the Bears did not score again. Michael Keasey answered at the 2:03 mark for the Elis. Shortly after being stoned by Kelly on the doorstep, Cimbalista finished off some quick passing by the visitors at the 8:29 mark. Shane Thornton had the assist.
The Bulldogs defense, which entered the game leading the Ivy with an 8.13 goals against average, kept the Bears off the board for the final 14:45 of the third. As the top 15 programs went to the final period, Yale trailed 6-4.
Oberbeck opened the fourth quarter scoring 1:10 in, firing home a pass from Reeves. With the helper, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year equaled the freshmen scoring record. Yale came all the way back at the 5:14 mark when Colin Flaherty sent home an Eric Scott feed. Cimbalista one-timed an Oberbeck behind the cage feed as Yale took its first lead of the game with 7:45 remaining. The sophomore completed his sixth hat trick of the season 1:13 later. Scott had the assist.
Oberbeck deposited the Brine into a vacated net with 2:02 left to stretch the Bulldogs' lead to three. Flaherty fired another vacate-net goal with 32 seconds left to close the scoring.
Natale (10-4) finished with nine saves, while Kelly, the first-team All-Ivy selection, stopped eight Yale shots. Yale held the high-powered Brown attack scoreless over the final 29:45 to earn their 14th 10-win season.
