COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The duo of Katie Jennings (So., Santa Monica, Calif.) and Lauren Jennings (So., San Diego, Calif.) combined for six goals with pairs of hat-tricks to share Player of the Game kudos as No. 1-ranked/Sierra Pacific Division Champion the University of California-Davis exploited an 8-3 scoring advantage in the second half to overcome No. 18/North Atlantic Division Champion Yale University, 14-8, in the first round of the 2024 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Texas A&M University at the Student Rec Center.
UC-Davis – which claimed the 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2018 National Collegiate Club Championships – moves one step closer to adding a fifth crown to the program’s collection as the Aggies will return to the water at 12:30 p.m. Central on Saturday, May 4, to face the winner of a first round game pitting No. 15/Northwest Division Champion the University of Washington and Mid-Atlantic Division Champion West Chester University in a quarterfinal clash.
Yale drops into the consolation side of the bracket as the Bulldogs will take on the fallen from the Washington-West Chester game at 7:30 p.m. this evening. Due to the loss, Yale can not finish higher than Ninth Place in the final 16-team championship standings.
The team was tight in the first half as neither team was able to pull away until a second half surge by Davis locked up the victory.
Katilyn Heindl (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) staked the Aggies to a 1-0 lead 42 seconds into the game (6:18), but Yale’s Katherine Dick (Fr., Florence, Italy) squared the squads at one-all at the 2:51 mark of the first quarter by burying a man-up strike.
UC-Davis and the Bulldogs traded scores once more over the remainder of the opening frame as Lauren Jennings flushed a five-meter penalty shot at 2:33 prior to Violette Perry (Jr., Christchurch, New Zealand) connecting on a natural marker at 1:34 to deadlock the teams at two-all through seven minutes.
Yale pushed ahead at 3-2 and 4-3 in the opening minutes of the second quarter thanks to tallies by Perry (6:36, 3:20) which sandwiched a response by Charlotte Wu (Sr., Orinda, Calif.) at 6:21. The Bulldogs further padded their margin to 5-3 thanks to a strike by Juliet Gottfried (Sr., New York, N.Y.) at 2:34, but Kayla Landman (Sr., Sonora, Calif.), Katie Jennings and Amiah Merrill (Jr., Elk Grove, Calif.) capped off the first half by swishing shots at 2:18, 1:43 and 51 seconds, respectively, to put Davis back in front at 6-5.
Dick delivered an equalizer 35 seconds into the third quarter (6:25) to pull Yale even at six-all.
However, it marked the last time the Bulldogs were tied with the Aggies as UC-Davis outscored their foes by an 8-2 count over the remainder of the game.
Jordyn Stiles (Jr., Ranco Cucamonga, Calif.) and Lauren Jennings commenced the surge by stuffing balls into the twine at 6:01 and 5:22 to put UC-Davis in front to stay at 8-6.
Olivia Meisner (Gr., New Orleans, La.) snapped the scoring run by stroking a shot into the cage at 3:40, but Katie Jennings closed out the third quarter by connecting on even-strength (1:31) and man-up (three seconds) markers to provide UC-Davis a 10-7 margin after 21 minutes of action.
The lead continued to expand in the dawning moments of the fourth quarter as Audrey Laskey (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) (6:01) and Lauren Jennings (5:28) drilled home chances to make it a 12-7 contest.
Perry put away her fourth point of the game with 5:15 on the clock to inch Yale back to within 12-8, but Landman (3:45) and Aidan Jacobo (Jr., Roseville, Calif.) (49 seconds) put to rest any doubts about the outcome by accounting for the final blows in the 14-8 win.
For Yale, Perry (four) and Dick (two) notched multi-goal games with Gottfried and Meisner accounting for the remainder of the Bulldogs’ offense.
For UC-Davis, the Jennings’ were joined in the scoring column by Landman (two), Merrill, Jacobo, Stiles, Laskey, Wu and Heindl.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 18 Yale University |
2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | 8 |
| No. 1 University of California-Davis | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | – | 14 |
| UC-Davis Goals: | Katie Jennings (3); Lauren Jennings (3); Kayla Landman (2); Amiah Merrill; Aidan Jacobo; Jordyn Stiles; Audrey Laskey; Charlotte Wu; Kaitlyn Heindl | |||||
| Yale Goals: | Violette Perry (4); Katherine Dick (2); Juliet Gottfried; Olivia Meisner | |||||
| Exclusions: | UC Davis – 6 ; Yale – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | UC Davis – 2-for-6 ; Yale – 1-for-6 | |||||
| Sprints: | UC Davis – 2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) ; Yale -2-for-4 (1st, 2nd) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Philippe Knall, Edwin Barrera | |||||
The University of California-Davis’ Amiah Merrill (#18) defends Yale University’s Mikiala Ng (#9)
Yale University’s Katherine Dick (#6)
Yale University’s Caroline Utermann (#4) rises up as the University of California-Davis’ Leilani Chavez (#6) scopes an opening
