Yale Bulldogs men's soccer

Yale's first attempts with "kicking games" have roots in the 1860s, when the University, along with Princeton (then known as the College of Ottawa), Rutgers, and Brown, started to play a form of football that resembled the Association game.^[3]

Nevertheless, after a rugby football game played v Harvard in 1875, Yale dropped the association football in favor of rugby.^[4] That would be official in 1876 when Yale and other universities met at the Massasoit Convention in Springfield, Massachusetts, agreed to adopt most of the Rugby Football Union rules, with some variations,^[5][4]

The university fielded its first soccer team in 1908.^[1]

Yale athletics have a longstanding rivalry with Harvard across all sports since 1875 when they first met in a rugby-style game,^[6][7][8][9] and it also translates to the men's soccer programs. Both representative teams have faced each other on an annual basis since 1907.^[10][11][12] The Crimson lead the series against the Bulldogs 53-38-12.^[13]

Yale has also a strong rivalry with Princeton,^[14] which is among the oldest in American sports^[15][16] since they played their first football game in 1873.^[17]