PHILADELPHIA — Matt Brandau was getting his ankle wrapped up, so he arrived late to the press conference following Yale’s 21-17 NCAA semifinal victory over Penn State Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Brandau only had time to credit his training staff for stopping him from freaking out and getting him back on the field after he rolled his ankle on the sideline, before he was told by a moderator that the players’ portion of the press conference was over.
“You guys can carry him out,” the moderator said to Jackson Morrill and TD Ierlan as the Yale players got up to leave.
It would only be fair. Brandau had carried his team all day.
Brandau set a career-high with seven goals, including four to put the game away in the fourth quarter, to make sure a record-tying 10-goal first quarter by Yale would be enough.
The Bulldogs (15-3) advance to Monday’s NCAA final, where they will meet Virginia (16-3). Penn State, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, fell to 16-2. Both losses came to Yale.
Jackson Morrill scored off an assist from John Danigellis less than one minute into the game. By the time Morrill scored his second goal, with two minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Elis were up 10-1. Jack Kelly scored in the frame’s final minute to put Penn State within 10-2.
“They took advantage of a lack of experience and maybe a lack of preparation,” said Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni. “And that falls on me.”
Yale was able to build its lead in large part to TD Ierlan, who won 28 of the 39 faceoffs he took.
“They have one of the best faceoff guys in the country, if not to ever play the game,” said Penn State’s Grant Ament, who had three goals and five assists. Ament finished the tournament with 25 points, which tied an NCAA record.
Despite facing an early nine-goal deficit, and a faceoff man who makes a nine-goal deficit nearly impossible to overtime, Ament and the Nittany Lions refused to go down without a fight. When Dylan Foulds scored off an assist from Nick Spillane just before halftime, the Nits had cut that once insurmountable deficit to 13-9.
The Nittany Lions were the tournament's overall No. 1 seed and had been ranked No. 1 for most of the year. Penn State’s high ranking, and the fact that many pundits picked the Nits to win, seemed to rankle Yale.
“As soon as it started looking that way, we kind of shoved it in our guy’s faces. No one was looking at us,” said Yale coach Andy Shay. “In the back of our minds, our guys think they are pretty good too. Take nothing away from Penn State, but we did feel like a lot of people were picking them and not a lot of people picking us."
Even after the big first quarter, a Penn State victory still seemed possible after Foulds scored a man-up goal with 2:19 remaining in the third quarter to put them it 16-13. The Nittany Lions would get no closer. Luke Eschbach scored to put Yale up four early in the fourth and Brandau scored four of the next five goals to put the game away.
As the final frame wound down, they showed Yale’s lovable English Bulldog mascot, Handsome Dan, on the big screen.
The dog had fallen asleep on the sideline.
Like nearly everyone else in the stadium, Handsome Dan clearly felt comfortable that his team’s spot in the final was secure. It seems having a guy like Brandau on the field helps everyone associated with Yale sleep soundly.