Athlete of the Week: Laurie Belliveau

It is often said that every cloud has a silver lining. If this saying applies to the Yale women's hockey team's stormy season, goalkeeper Laurie Belliveau, TD '98, is nothing less than golden. In her third collegiate campaign, she has once again established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the Ivy League and beyond."Certainly, she is the finest goalie in the league. Her statistics and numbers throughout the season and her career support that claim," assistant coach John Riley said.

Belliveau's stellar play has won her the respect of coaches, players, and peers and earned her various honors, including Ivy League co-MVP for the past two years. Her career average of 45 saves per game is amazing, especially considering the unimpressive 9-53-3 record that Yale has complied in the past three years. With only four wins under her belt this season, Belliveau has somehow escaped with a phenomenal .91 save percentage.

During a Jan. 4 Yale-Cornell matchup, Belliveau thwarted 75 Big Red offensive attempts. She has since continued to excel on the ice. She broke Yale's all-time record for saves in a career, which had previously rested at 2,441, against Princeton on Jan. 8. In a 7-0 loss to Dartmouth on Jan. 12, she tied the Eli record of 78 saves in one contest, which she set during her freshman year.

"She's having an excellent season..., but we seem to expect that of her," Riley said. "She's always maintained a high level of play." The ups and downs of women's hockey's 4-17 overall, 0-16 ECAC season have been highlighted by Belliveau's consistently strong performances. Eight times this season, she has notched over 100 stops in a two-game weekend. She tallied 53 saves in games against Boston College and Dartmouth last weekend, despite team losses of 5-0 and 2-0 respectively. The Bulldog phenom affirms that the team's record is not an accurate reflection of its abilities.

"Some games we could have played better and won, other times we played really well in games when we were definitely the underdog, like Dartmouth," Belliveau said.

Belliveau, also a varsity lacrosse player, has spent the last three summers at the USA National Training Camp, fine-tuning her goal-keeping skills, and she also earned a spot on the 1995 USA Select Team. No doubt, this exposure and experience has contributed to her success.

When asked about the remainder of the season, Belliveau stressed "beating Harvard" as the primary Bulldog objective. This re-match with the traditional rival Crimson squad, the last opportunity for an Ivy League win, provides added incentive for Belliveau and the Yale women's hockey team. Under her leadership, Yale has a very good chance of realizing this goal.

--Lauren Anderson Back to Sports...