Yale will kick off the New Year this weekend after a one-month layoff without any matches and play host to Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth, and Stanford. Mark Talbott, former Yale head coach and the brother of current head coach David Talbott, is the head coach at Stanford.

After a one-month layoff without any matches, the Bulldogs will play host to Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth, and Rochester this weekend to kick off the New Year.

The final non-conference road game of the season takes Yale to the Prudential Center (The Rock) in Newark, N.J., for a matchup with NJIT. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. (Audio, Live Stats). When they return to New Haven following the game, the Bulldogs will have travelled nearly 10,000 miles (9,962) for their 10 non-league road contests.

The Yale Athletics Department will have a 2 p.m. press conference at the Ray Tompkins House on Wednesday, Jan. 7, to introduce the new Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football. A live video stream of the press conference will be available for free through All*Access on yalebulldogs.com beginning at 2 p.m.

It had been over 27 years since the Yale women's basketball team's one and only meeting with St. Bonaventure- a Dec. 5 tilt at the 1981 Iona Invitational that the Bulldogs won in convincing fashion by a score of 82-30. More than a quarter century later, the Bonnies returned the favor with a 68-35 win over the Bulldogs on Sunday at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven.

Ryan Rondeau stopped 29 of 31 shots against the nation's top scoring team as the Yale men's hockey team took a 3-2 win over No. 11 Air Force before 2,429 at Ingalls Rink.

Forward Danielle Welch's goal at 1:52 of overtime helped No. 7 Boston College avoid an upset bid from Yale, 1-0 at Ingalls Rink Saturday night. The Bulldogs nearly battled the Eagles to a stalemate behind 22 saves from freshman goaltender Genny Ladiges, but BC goalie Molly Schaus turned aside all 32 shots she faced. That included holding Yale scoreless on a pair of 5-on-3s.

The Yale women's basketball team kicks off 2009 against St. Bonaventure in the first game of a four-game homestand. The Bulldogs will also host the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Jan. 9), Bryant (Jan. 13) and their Ivy League opener against Brown (Jan. 16) on the home swing. Yale enters 2009 with a record of 5-6.

After a month on the road, a little home cooking was just what the Yale men's basketball team needed. Jordan Gibson scored 13 points to lead a balanced attack as the Bulldogs cruised to an 86-63 victory over MIT in the friendly confines of the John J. Lee Amphitheater.

The 2008-09 Yale men's hockey team (8-4, 4-2 ECAC Hockey), looking for a second straight win against a nationally ranked opponent, hosts No. 11 Air Force Sunday at 6 p.m. A win Sunday night at Ingalls Rink would give the Blue two wins in three games against nationally ranked squads over the last week in New Haven. The game can be seen live Yale's All Access (yalebulldogs.com) and heard on WYBC AM-1340 (wybc.com) with Alex Goldberger '08 and Ron Vaccaro '04 providing the commentary.

The way sophomore goaltender Jackee Snikeris has been playing these days, she doesn't need much more than one goal from the Yale offense to deliver a win. Freshman forward Aleca Hughes got her one midway through the second period Friday night at Northeastern, and senior forward Crysti Howser tacked on an empty-netter at the end, as Snikeris and the Bulldogs beat NU 2-0 for their fifth win in six games. It was also the fifth time in that stretch that Snikeris has held an opponent to one goal or less.

The women's swimming and diving team has moved its meet against Fairfield from Jan. 24 to Jan 4. The two teams are both training in Puerto Rico over the long winter break, and have elected to hold their race there. This is most helpful to the Bulldogs, who open up a week of rest before their meet against Harvard and Princeton. Had the meet not been moved Yale would have raced six consecutive weekends with Harvard and Princeton coming after three straight races. Now the Bulldogs will get rest after their duals with Cornell/Navy and Dartmouth/Penn, before going into three straight races with Harvard/Princeton, Connecticut and Brown.

The Bulldog men's swimming and diving team will open 2009 with a meet against Fairfield on Sunday in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The team, which is in Puerto Rico to train heavily before resuming dual meet competition against Cornell and Navy on Jan. 9 (diving) and Jan. 10 (swimming), will begin competition against the Stags at 1:00 p.m.

Big second halves from a pair of players helped Bryant top Yale Friday afternoon. Peter Lambert scored 13 of his 16 points in the final 20 minutes, and Nick Pontes had all 15 of his points in the second stanza to lead Bryant to a 69-58 victory at the Chace Athletic Center. Ross Morin scored 17 points to pace the Bulldogs.

Yale's last two non-conference games have the Bulldogs matched up against a pair of Boston-area teams, Northeastern and No. 7 Boston College. The Bulldogs visit the Huskies Friday night (7:00 p.m., Pay-per-view Video on GoNU.com, Live Stats) and then return home to host the Eagles Saturday night (7:00 p.m., Free Video on Yale All*Access, WYBC 1340 AM, GameTracker).