In the final home game of regular season play, the No. 17 men's soccer team (11-2-3, 3-2-1 Ivy League), who is out of contention for the Ivy championship, dominated Yale (3-11-2, 1-4-1) Saturday night with a 4-1 victory.
"The team played with good emotion and intensity," said Head Coach Pat Laughlin. "I felt it was a total team effort with many players taking their opportunity to make a difference in the game."
Yale struck first at just over nine minutes in when defender Milan Tica pushed the ball ahead to forward Peter Jacobson. Jacobson blasted it past goalkeeper Paul Grandstrand '11 into the high left post.
After some frustrating play from the Bears — who had six fouls in the first half, compared to Yale's three — a mass substitution in the 33rd minute brought midfielder Jay Hayward '12, forward T.J. Popolizio '12 and midfielder Bobby Belair '13 to the field.
"We responded well to the goal by Yale," Laughlin said. "The introduction of Hayward, Belair and Popolizio in the first half raised our pressure on them and made us more dangerous."
And dangerous they were. A throw-in by Hayward set up a Popolizio goal in the 41st minute, as the forward headed it past Yale goalkeeper Bobby Thalman.
Bruno ran away with the game in the second half as the team tallied three more goals, one each from midfielder Evan Coleman '12, forward Sean Rosa '12.5 and midfielder Kevin Gavey '13.
Gavey's 88th-minute score marked his first career goal. Defender Ian Smith '11 set the ball up for Gavey, who headed it into the net.
Bruno will travel to Hanover, N.H., this Saturday to face Dartmouth (9-6-1, 3-3-0) at 4 p.m. in its final regular season matchup. While the Bears are out of contention for the Ivy crown, they are still playing to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA national tournament.
