Sarah Love ’05, the women’s hockey team’s star goaltender, racked up the awards this weekend on the heels of a historic win over Harvard.

Love was named U.S. College Hockey Online Div. I Defensive Player of the Week and ECAC Goalie of the Week following games against No. 3 Harvard and No. 8 Brown. On Friday night, Love made an impressive 48 saves on 50 shots in the Elis’ 3–2 victory against Harvard, their first win against the Crimson in 20 years. On Saturday, in a 4–1 loss to Brown, Love made 25 saves on 29 shots. Her weekend total was 73 saves on 79 shots, and her save percentage was .924.

“Sarah is really focused,” forward Jenna Spring ’07 said. “She cares a lot about the team and about playing for the team. She’s a huge competitor and she plays to win. She plays great in big games and she came up big for us this weekend against Harvard. I think that’s why she gets all the awards she does — she brings so much to the team.”

So far this season, Love has worked her way to a .907 save percentage, good for eighth place in the ECAC standings. She has led the Bulldogs’ defense to a ninth place ranking among ECAC teams and a 4.00 goals/game average, and the entire team to a fourth-place tie in the conference standings.

Eli captain Erin Duggan ’05 said that Love’s skill was particularly valuable to the team this weekend because it encouraged exceptional play from her teammates.

“She played really well, and I think our team played well too,” Duggan said. “She had a lot of one-shot saves where she deflected the puck into the corners. She was just technically sound, and that made it easy for us to play in front of her.”

Defender Helen Resor ’08 attributes Love’s success to her determination and unrelenting focus.

“Every day she comes to practice ready to play,” she said. “People have off-and-on days, but she’s always on.”

Love finished the 2003–2004 season ranked fifth in the nation in save percentage, with .931. She was also 14th in the rankings for goals against average with 2.25.

Love is the backbone of the Bulldogs’ defense. Her 2003–2004 stats for save percentage and goals against average earned her the school records in both categories, and she earned first team All-Ivy honors and second team All-ECAC honors after her sophomore season. She was also named a New England Hockey Writers’ Association All-Star.

Defender Nina Resor ’07 said Love’s talent reinforces the defense.

“As a defenseman, I feel really good that she’s behind me,” she said. “I have confidence in her to make the saves and she works really hard.”