Elis look to break decade of disappointment

Women's ice hockey hopes to capitalize on the team's youth to move up from the Ivy League basement.

By Sharon Lin

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY Sue Barnes, DC '00, leads the Elis in their attempt to gain their first Ivy League victory in more than a decade.

The last time the Eli women's hockey team defeated an Ivy League opponent, George Bush, DC '48, was on the campaign trail; Jodie Foster, CC '84, won an Oscar for The Accused; George Michael's Faith was at the top of the charts; and current Yale freshmen were in second grade. But 1988 was a long, long time ago, and the Bulldogs aren't showing any signs of breaking their Ivy losing streak.

Right now in the Ivy League standings, Yale is four points behind its closest opponents, Dartmouth and Cornell, and eight behind Harvard.

The Bulldogs come home to the Whale on Sat., Jan. 23, after a visit to Maine. Yale dropped the Fri., Jan. 15 game 1-0. Despite being behind twice in the Sat., Jan 16 meeting, the Elis pulled together to earn a 2-2 tie against the Bears, 2-2. The goals were scored by forward Sara Wood, ES '02, in the first period, and forward Lisa Meyers, SY '01, halfway through the third. Rookie goalie Katie Hirte, SM '02, made three key saves in the overtime period and had a total of 52 saves during the weekend road trip. Meyers was disappointed with the tie. "Things definitely did not go our way," she said.

Head Coach John Marchetti recruited Hirte to fill the big gap left between the pipes by the departure of Laurie Belliveau, TD '98, one of Yale's most decorated athletes. During her career as a Bulldog, Belliveau won three Ivy League Player of the Year awards and was selected All-Ivy First Team four times. Hirte has 355 saves on the season and owns a 4.26 goals against average. She is backed up by fellow netminding rookie Sarah MacGregor, JE '02 (67 saves, 4.33 GAA).

Meyers outlined the prospects for the young team. "The season is in our hands right now," she said. "We need to score some goals. [Hirte's] last two weekends were amazing. If we had to pinpoint [areas that need improvement], goaltending would be one of the last."

One of the major targets of improvement for the Elis is shots on goal. Simply put, the more shots the team is able to get on net, the greater their chances are of scoring and winning. "We really just have to get more quality shots on goal," forward Jane Resor, SY '01 said. "We should be getting 30 shots on goal each game."

With one year of varsity experience on her résumé, Meyers has led the Elis in scoring, with a dozen goals and nine assists. Her roommate, Resor, is second on the team in point-production, tallying five goals and seven assists. Wood, who scored in the tie with Maine, has recorded eight goals and two assists.

The women skate against the 3-12-0 (2-12-0 ECAC) Niagara Purple Eagles in back-to-back games on Sat., Jan. 23 and Sun., Jan. 24. Yale and Niagara are currently tied for 12th place in the ECAC. Winless Colby College is in last place.

Although the Lady Bulldogs have been struggling of late, they believe they can play well enough to win. "I think we should beat Colby again," Resor said. "We should've beaten Maine, and hopefully we'll also win against Niagara and Boston College." Although they are optimistic, they also see the bumps ahead. "Niagara is going to be tough," Resor said. "Boston College should be a good game. Our game against them last year was really competitive when we tied them 3-3." Meyers added, "Hopefully, we'll be able to focus and use that disappointment [from Maine] against Niagara."

In their next Ivy League game on Fri., Jan. 29, the Blue will take on 7-5-4 (6-4-4 ECAC, 1-2-2 Ivy) Dartmouth in Hanover. One more step on a tortuous 11-year road; one more attempt to end the disappointment.

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