Spring highlights: a big win on the water

Stockton Photo

The women’s varsity eight celebrate their national championship at Princeton’s Mercer Lake. View full image

Rowing
After years on the cusp, it all came together this year for the women’s rowing team. Before this season, the Bulldogs had placed second or third in the team points title at the Ivy League championship for three straight years, then found themselves just off the podium at the NCAA championship, with fifth-place finishes in 2022 and 2023. 

This year, Yale tore through the regular season. The varsity eight went undefeated, including a victory over Radcliffe to win the Case Cup for the 12th straight year. At the Ivy League championship, the top eight fell to Princeton, but behind wins from the varsity four and second eight, Yale captured the points title and an automatic bid to the NCAA for the first time since 2018. 

At NCAA, held at Princeton’s home waters on Mercer Lake, all three of Yale’s boats advanced to the grand final. On the final day of racing, the top eight faced the country’s premier crews, including an undefeated and top-ranked Stanford boat, and last year’s national champion, Texas. But the race plan was simple: go all out. “There are some subtle strategies in championship racing, but in the end, it is a straight-up drag race, and you lay down a max effort,” says head coach Will Porter, who has led Yale to 22 NCAA appearances since 1999. “It is all offense, no defense.”

Despite the competition, it was Yale’s race to dominate. Yale stormed out early, found separation, and never relinquished the lead, beating Stanford by nearly a full length to take their first national varsity eight title since 2010. With a time just over six minutes and six seconds, the Bulldogs also set the national championship record in the 2,000-meter race. “Generally, in high level racing, the better athletes, the ones who are stronger and more fit, win,” says Porter, who earned his fourth NCAA varsity eights title as coach. “That was our 1V. It was not a surprise.” The team as a whole finished as the national runner-up for the first time since 2004. (The team championship is based on the combined results of three events: fours and first and second varsity eights.)

In men’s crew, the heavyweights finished eighth overall at the IRA national championship regatta, and the lightweights took ninth place. At the 158th Yale-Harvard Regatta, the Bulldogs’ varsity eight finished 14 seconds behind an accomplished Harvard boat that took second at nationals. The Crimson swept all four races at New London.

Women’s lacrosse
When it comes to the postseason, the women’s lacrosse team certainly has a flair for the dramatic. The last two seasons, the Ivy tournament was decided by a sudden-death goal. This year, the last-minute heroics came in the Ivy semifinal: Taylor Lane ’25 scored with just 13 seconds remaining to propel the Bulldogs past Penn to the final. In the championship game, the drama was more atmospheric. In a driving rain, Yale routed Princeton 17–6 for their second straight Ivy League tournament title and another NCAA tournament appearance. “The longstanding rivalries make this conference so exciting,” says head coach Erica Bamford. “We have been battling Harvard and Princeton longer than many programs have had a team.”

The tournament berth was the beginning of another dream run for Yale. Four Ivy League teams made the 29-team tournament (a record), but Yale was ranked highest at No. 7, once again earning the Bulldogs the right to host their first two games at Reese Stadium. Yale took down Albany in the first round, setting up a second-round matchup with Syracuse, who knocked Yale out in last year’s quarterfinals. 

In the postseason rematch, it was Yale who won a tight 9–8 affair to return to the quarterfinals, as Jenna Collignon ’25 scored the final two goals in the waning minutes to take the lead while breaking Yale’s all-time record with 211 goals—a new chapter in Bulldog postseason drama. “Syracuse has set the standard for excellence in women’s lacrosse, and being able to compete with and ultimately defeat them on our home field was such a proud moment,” says Fallon Vaughn ’25, a first-team All-American. “It gave us a huge boost of confidence and reinforced that we belong at this level.” 

Yale fell to Boston College in the next round, 18–11, capping a season that once again elevated the program’s profile. It’s fitting that in a season celebrating 50 years of Yale women’s lacrosse, the Bulldogs firmly established themselves among the nation’s elite. Says Vaughn, “Being part of this journey has been the greatest honor of my college experience.”

Yale Athletics

First-year Jack Ohman ’28, the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, helped lead the baseball team to a share of the regular-season Ivy championship. View full image

Baseball
The return of Yale baseball appears to be ahead of schedule. Since Yale’s last NCAA appearance in 2017, the program had experienced little standout success despite meaningful transitions off the field. In 2021, a renovated Yale Field was renamed in honor of George H. W. Bush ’48. After the 2022 season, coach John Stuper stepped down after 30 years in the role. Brian Hamm, who led Eastern Connecticut State to the 2022 Division III NCAA title, took over the position, endowed by former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent Jr. ’63LLB before his passing earlier this year.

With a new generation taking shape, Hamm led the Bulldogs to middle-of-the-pack finishes in his first two seasons, and preseason polling predicted Yale to finish fifth once again this year. Instead, Yale won 31 games, a total exceeded in only two previous seasons, and reached the top of the Ivy, where they shared the regular-season crown with Columbia. Hamm credits the improvement to consistent routine. “By committing to our process, we allowed ourselves to compete with intensity, energy, and joy—free to be fully present in the moment,” he says.

Improvements came in nearly every category, as the Bulldogs outscored the 2024 team by more than 100 runs. “Our offensive objective has been to build a dynamic, versatile attack, one that combines an aggressive running and bunt game with hitters capable of producing both for average and power. This type of nuanced offense takes time to develop and refine,” says Hamm. “In 2025, we’ve begun to see those efforts translate into real results on the field.” One example of their potency: in their final three-game series against Dartmouth, the Bulldogs swept the Big Green by a combined score of 47–5. 

The resurgence was led by tremendous first-year talent that made immediate contributions. Most notably, in his first year, pitcher Jack Ohman ’28 led the entire country with a minuscule 1.34 ERA over more than 73 innings. In fact, Ohman didn’t give up a single run in his first 35 innings of collegiate play. “I wasn’t worried about statistics,” says Ohman, the son of former MLB pitcher Will Ohman. “Every time I went out to the mound, I was just trying to put my team in a position to win. I think that simple mentality helped me carry that streak for so long.” His stunning debut season won him Ivy League Pitcher of the Year and numerous national accolades. Another first-year Jack provided offensive firepower: third baseman Jack Dauer ’28 became the first Eli to win Ivy  Rookie of the Year since 1994.

Yale’s regular-season success meant that the Ivy League Tournament, a double-elimination contest first held in 2023, was held in New Haven with the Ivy’s top four teams. Unfortunately, two losses to Harvard eliminated the Bulldogs. But the tournament exit can’t diminish the optimism moving forward. The bats are alive once again at Bush Field.