NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Albany already was having trouble moving the ball when Connor Fields went down in the first quarter. 

After that, it was as if the Great Danes had any energy sucked out of them. 

No. 5 Yale continued its tear through its schedule on Sunday, taking a 14-6 win over visiting No. 1 Albany.

For the Great Danes, it might be worse than just one loss. Fields, who missed three games with a sprained MCL before returning Friday in an 18-7 win over Binghamton, suffered an apparent injury in the first quarter when his knee appeared to buckle on a dodge. Moments before, he was looking for a slashing call against the Yale defender, and as he reset to dodge he lost the ball and crumbled to the turf. He walked off on his own power.

Non-contact injury not a good sign for @UAlbanyMLax Star Connor Fields, who sprained MCL earlier in season and has exited this game. @YaleLacrosse leads 3-1 late 1Q. Classy move by @Tewaaraton rival Ben Reeves to greet Fields as he came to his feet. pic.twitter.com/O3Ggd2EYFX

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 22, 2018

After the game, the severity wasn’t clear.

“I have no idea,” Albany coach Scott Marr said. “My doctors are going to look at it when we get back to school on Monday. We just hope for the best, and hopefully it’s OK.”

Once Fields was out of the game, the Great Danes went on to score just five more goals. The six goals overall marked their lowest total this season; they scored just seven in their first loss of the year at UMBC.

The contest was chippy throughout, and the loss of Fields seemed to spark further frustration for Albany.

“It didn’t help,” said Marr. “We got it to 3-1 and were right there. He goes down, and it stops. He wasn’t feeling that stable.”

Fields has had knee trouble before, but as of Friday, he was sharp and looked like he had overcome it.

“He came back and played well on Friday,” Marr said. “I don’t know if this is a tweak, or what it is. Our doctors are going to look at him and get an MRI. He played great on Friday night and moved really well. He just tried to make a cut.”

Albany also had the disadvantage of playing two games in three days. Yale hadn’t played since Tuesday against Marist.

“It’s certainly disappointing,” Marr said. “They outplayed us in every phase of the game. We just didn’t handle their ride well. We tried to prepare for it during the week, but obviously we need to prepare more for it.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Yale played as well as it has all season.

Conor Mackie won the faceoff battle with TD Ierlan, snaring 13 of the 21 draws. That allowed the Bulldogs, who boasted a 41-15 advantage on ground balls, to control momentum.

“Conor Mackie was awesome,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “He knew what a challenge it was, and he stuck to his fundamentals and those details and was great. That guy [Ierlan] is 85 percent. It’s really impressive.”

Yale put on an offensive clinic in the first quarter, scoring in multiple ways. John Daniggelis was matched by a short stick and got underneath to the net to make it 1-0 with 10:28 left in the first. Moments later, Lucas Cotler made the same play on the opposite wing. 

Reeves took over early, beating a double with a third slide to fire it in for a 3-0 Yale advantage. Later on, he won a ground-ball battle with Albany’s Stone Sims and found Matt Gaudet open in front for the fourth goal of the day.

Fields found Jakob Patterson in front of the net following a man-up chance to trail 3-1, but right after that was when the No. 3 overall MLL pick was injured.

The Bulldogs led 6-3 going into the half, and the Great Danes stormed back to make it a 7-5 with back-to-back tallies in the third.

But failed clears and turnovers continued to do them in, and the Bulldogs got more separation. 

“We stuck to our game, but it was a little sloppy at the start of the third quarter,” Shay said. “That’s what’s going to happen. They’re going to come back and play as hard as they can. We fouled a couple of times and failed to clear it, but we settled in and kept grinding.”

FINAL: @YaleLacrosse 14, @UAlbanyMLax 6

A thoroughly dominant performance for the Bulldogs against the Great Danes in front of a sellout crowd at Reese Stadium. Reeves, Cotler, Gaudet 3G apiece. GBs - Yale 41, Albany 15 pic.twitter.com/Ug7GhQdUKZ

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 22, 2018

Yale controlled possession, thanks to Mackie, but even when the Great Danes got the ball, a 13-for-18 clearing day wasn’t going to get it done.

But it was the sheer amount of possession that also led to the scoring chances for Yale.

“It was pretty bad,” Ierlan said. “Pretty awful. [Mackie] was at his best. I didn’t make the plays to give us a chance.”

While Ierlan did win just eight faceoffs, the Great Danes still couldn’t possess the ball once they tried to get across midfield.

The momentum shifted when Albany scored its first goal, where Fields had the assist, but as soon as he was out, the Bulldogs took a stranglehold. 

Albany also struggled to stop Reeves, who scored three goals to go with an assist. They doubled him often, but he still found ways to beat them.

“They did a great job today,” Reeves said. “It was a challenge every step of the way.”

The Bulldogs (11-2) at 5-0 in the Ivy League are in prime possession to take the top seed in the conference, with one game left against Harvard. Albany (11-2), meanwhile, is 4-1 in the America East, tied with Stony Brook with one game left against Hartford.

PHOTO BY RICH BARNES

Even if Albany takes the top seed in the tournament — and the Great Danes surely are postseason-bound no matter what happens — it might be moot if Fields doesn’t return strong.

One way or another, Albany has to move on and finish strong, no matter who is on the field.

“It’s just the way the game goes,” Marr said. “There’s two ways a game can go: a blowout either way, or it could be a tight game. This was a blowout in their favor.”