No. 17 Women’s Soccer Wins Ivy Title Outright, Draws with Yale, 1-1

Saturday, November 9

New Haven, CT

1:00 PM

Brown University

14-1-1, 6-0-1Ivy

Yale University

11-4-1, 4-2-1Ivy

Brown

Yale

No. 17 Women’s Soccer Wins Ivy Title Outright, Draws with Yale, 1-1

11/9/2019 4:49:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Freshman Ava Seelenfreund scored in the second minute, and the Bears won the 2019 Ivy League title outright as Brown University women's soccer tied Yale University in double overtime, 1-1, in its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at Reese Stadium.

In their final game before their first appearance at the NCAA tournament since 1994, the Bears (14-1-2, 6-0-1 Ivy, No. 6 RPI) finished undefeated in Ivy League play for the ninth time in program history with their draw against the host Bulldogs (11-4-1, 4-2-1 Ivy, No. 42 RPI).

"We came out hard and got a goal on Yale early which was great, but after that I felt that we lacked focus and urgency in key moments that let Yale back into the game," Brown head coach Kia McNeill said. "Our team has put in a lot of miles the past 10 days or so, so it's good that we have a couple days off to rest and recover a bit."

Brown – ranked No. 6 in the NCAA RPI, No. 9 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll, and No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches poll – earned its 10^th outright Ivy title in program history. The Bears now have 13 Ivy titles all-time and won their first conference crown since 1994.

"Although we all were playing for a win today, it's tough to be perfect in this conference, and I'm happy with the culmination of work we have put together to get us to this point and being the sole Ivy champions," McNeill said. "We look forward to representing the Ivy League in the NCAAs."

Brown is set to make its seventh all-time appearance in the NCAA Championship and first since 1994. The selection show for the championship will take place on Monday, Nov. 11 at 4:30 p.m. on NCAA.com. First round games will be played on either Nov. 15, Nov. 16, or Nov. 17.

Seelenfreund (Truckee, Calif.) netted her fifth goal of her rookie season and now has 15 points on the year. She scored her second goal in Ivy play alongside her game-winning goal against Princeton on Oct. 12.

Senior Abby Carchio (Lakeville, Mass.) posted the assist on Seelenfreund's goal. Carchio has three assists on the season and 17 assists in her career. She now has nine points on the year and 49 points in her career.

The Bears have tallied 32 goals on the season, marking their most goals since 2006 (37) and marking the second time since 1994 that the team has eclipsed the 30-goal plateau.

Junior goalkeeper Kayla Thompson (Austin, Texas) matched her career high with six saves. She notched five or more saves for the third time in Ivy play. Entering the contest ranked fourth in the NCAA in save percentage, Thompson closed the regular season with a .900 save percentage and 0.37 GAA.

All four members of Brown's back four – junior center backs Sydney Cummings (Millstone Township, N.J.) and Cameron Brown (Portsmouth, Va.), sophomore Lauren Hinton (Middletown, Conn.), and freshman Rachyl Francisco (San Jose, Calif.) went the full 110 minutes. Cummings has played all 1,590 minutes on the season. Brown – which entered the game second in the NCAA in fewest goals allowed – permitted just six goals in the regular season for a 0.34 GAA.

Seelenfreund opened the scoring in the second minute, heading home a corner kick from Carchio at the 1:57 mark. After Carchio played an in-swinging corner from the left side, Seelenfreund rose up at the edge of the goal area and flicked the ball into the back of the net.

Ellery Winkler knotted the score at 1-1 in the 61^st minute. After Noelle Higginson sent a through ball forward on a counter, Winkler worked past Thompson and slid a shot into the goal at 60:26.

Seelenfreund nearly gave the Bears a 2-0 lead in the 59^th minute. After freshman Brittany Raphino (Randolph, Mass.) carried the ball into the attacking third on the counter, she passed to Seelenfreund before her classmate's shot on target was saved.

For the match, the Bulldogs held advantages in shots (19-8), shots on goal (7-5), and corner kicks (9-6). Yale's Aerial Chavarin sent a shot off the right post in the 74^th minute. Bulldogs goalkeeper Alyssa Fagel made three saves.

Brown moved to 8-0-1 in its last nine matches, to 14-0-1 when scoring first in 2019, and to 10-0-1 when leading at halftime this year.

Video of all Brown women's soccer home contests and all Ivy League games, home and away, will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Tickets for all Brown women's soccer games can be purchased online, by calling the Brown Athletics Ticket Office at (401) 863-2773, or by walking up to the box office located in the Pizzitola Sports Center, open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.