May 6, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht announced today the Yale women's basketball team's Class of 2012. Michelle Cashen, Verena Lehner and Brianna Segerson will join the program as freshmen for the 2008-09 season.

"All three of these players fit the team's mold and will help take this program in the direction I want it to go in," Gobrecht said. "They can play a fast, aggressive style and address our needs nicely."

Cashen, a six-foot forward from Belle Harbor, N.Y., was one of the top recruits in the New York area. She can play either forward position and was named first team all-city at Midwood High School in Brooklyn. Cashen was also selected for the Metro Classic all-star team.

Lehner is a six-foot-one guard/forward from Gmunden, Austria. She spent the last year playing at the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Conn., where she led the team in scoring. Lehner can play four positions and scored 24 points against Yale as a member of the Bavarian All-Stars during the Bulldogs' tour of Germany and Austria last summer. She will be the first European and just the third foreign-born player in program history.

The five-foot-eight Segerson is from Fairlawn, Ohio, where she was one of the top rated point guards in the state. She was named all-state and team MVP at Walsh Jesuit High School outside Cleveland and will help fill the void left by the graduation of Stephanie Marciano.

"This class will raise the athleticism and basketball IQ of our team," Gobrecht said. "I expect them to all see significant playing time immediately. They will complete the picture and allow us to play a lot of people in a fast, aggressive game."

They join a squad that loses only one player to graduation. Yale finished 9-18 overall last season and posted a 7-7 Ivy League mark. The Bulldogs' .500 record and fourth-place finish were their best conference results since the 2001-02 campaign. The squad is scheduled to begin the 2008-09 season at Holy Cross on Nov. 15.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity