Yale remains unbeaten after thrilling double overtime win against Hofstra

Monday morning, Sarah Jordan was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Monday night, Lydia Shaw started her candidacy for next week's award. Shaw scored the game-winning goal with 3:12 left in double overtime as Yale stayed perfect with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Hofstra on Long Island.

Shaw, though, will have some competition from her teammate Ciara Ostrander, who also had a goal and set up Shaw's game-winner.

The Bulldogs are off to a 5-0 start on the young season, their best since the 2004 team also won its first five games.

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"This team really likes to compete," said Yale head coach Rudy Meredith. "They are buying into the team concept."

And most importantly, Meredith has had a number of different players make major contributions through the first five games. Seven players have combined for Yale's 12 goals.

Shaw's game-winner, the first goal of her career, came after a terrific pass into the box from Ostrander. Shaw settled it and fired a shot into the right corner from 12 yards out, setting off a big celebration on the Yale sideline.

Yale and Hofstra have a recent history of playing close games and this one was no different.

The Pride (2-3-1) struck first at 20:44 when Kristin Desmond fired a shot into the top corner from 20 yards out.

It stayed 1-0 until halftime when Meredith made some adjustments.

"We changed our formation," he said. "We wanted to pressure them a little more."

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That and having the wind at their backs seemed to help the Bulldogs, who scored twice in a three-minute stretch midway through the second half to grab the lead. Ostrander struck first when she banged home the rebound after Michelle Alozie's shot deflected off the post.

Alozie had a role in the second goal as well when she sent a free kick that Noelle Higginson put home at 63:30. It was Higginson's third goal of the season.

Yale's lead, though, was short lived. Jenn Buoncore chipped a ball around and a defender and then scored at 66:33.

Hofstra had the wind at its back in the first 10-minute overtime period, but the Bulldogs held the Pride without a shot, setting the stage for Shaw's heroics.

Yale heads to the West Coast this weekend, taking on Pacific on Friday and Stanford on Sunday.