CARLISLE, Pa. — Yale University’s Addie Juelfs (So., Costa Mesa, Calif.) unleashed for five goals to nab Player of the Game laurels as No. 18-ranked/No. 4 position/North Atlantic Division Champion Yale University collared No. 12/No. 13 position/Northwest Division champion the University of Washington, 14-7, in the opening round of the 2026 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted at the Carlisle Family YMCA Aquatic Center.
The victory advances the Bulldogs into a quarterfinal clash at 10:10 a.m. on Saturday April 18, against the winner of a first rond match-up pitting No. 11/No. 5 position/New England Division Champion Northeastern University and No. 4/No. 12 position/Southeast Division winner the University of Florida.
Washington falls into the consolation side of the bracket and will return to the water at 6:20 p.m. this evening to face the fallen from the Northeastern-Florida contest. Due to the defeat, the Huskies can not finish higher than Ninth Place in the final 16-team standings, while Yale is unable to place lower than Eighth Place.
The game was nip-tuck in the early going as Juelfs fired in an icebreaker with 6:12 left in the first quarter prior to Washington’s Mia Stitt (Jr., Gig Harbor, Wash.) finding the twine at 4:25 to square the squads at one-all.
It marked the final time the Huskies were even with the Bulldogs as Riley Waters (Gr., Portland, Ore.) turned the tide by unleashing a scoring torrent with back-to-back strikes at 4:02 and 3:20 to provide Yale a 3-1 margin.
Jojo Southwell (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) trimmed her team’s deficit to 3-2 at 2:24, but Juelfs proved to be judge, jury and executioner of Washington’s hopes to hang with Yale as the sophomore served up back-to-back strikes at 1:17 and 51 seconds to stymie the Huskies and put the Northwest Division Champion in a 5-2 hole.
Waters (3:58, penalty shot) and Juelfs (2:36, man-up) cushioned the lead to 7-2 in the second quarter prior to Southwell putting away back-to-back markers at 1:19 and 36 seconds to close Washington’s gap to 7-4. Maria Weldon (So., Honolulu, Hawaii) snuffed out the Huskies’ offensive fire, however, by stuffing in a final first half blow with 13 ticks on the clock to double-up Washington at 8-4 at the break.
Reis Every (Fr., Gig Harbor, Wash.) started the second half with a marker at the 5:53 mark of the third quarter, but consecutive successful heaves by Katherine Dick (Jr., Florence, Italy) at 3:24 and 2:41 widened the gap to 10-5. Southwell put away her third goal of the game with 1:10 to play in the frame before Yale’s Marina Zernik (Gr., Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Julia Rosado (Jr., New Haven, Conn.) ticked off back-to-back tallies in the final minute with 47 and 15 seconds on the clock, respectively, to make it 12-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
The offensive fireworks slowed in the final seven minutes as Weldon (5:33) and Juelfs (1:36) expanded the Bulldogs’ lead to 14-6 prior to Iben Orton (So., Bend, Ore.) flushing a final goal for the Huskies with 42 seconds remaining in regulation.
Southwell (four), Orton, Stitt and Every combined for their Washington’s seven goals with goalkeeper Julia Lubas (Sr. Glen Ellen, Calif.) snagging 11 saves.
Across the tank, Juelfs (five), Waters (three), Dick (two), Weldon (two), Zernik and Rosado scored to aid a 10 save performance by Daisy Gemberling (Fr., Carpinteria, Calif.).
University of Washington’s Jojo Southwell (#9) & Yale University’s Riley Waters (#11)
Yale University’s Maria Weldon (#10) attempts to evade the University of Washington’s Jojo Southwell (#9)
Yale University’s Addie Juelfs (#8) rears back against the University of Washington
