CHERYL TATE

She'll go down in the record books as "The Beanpot Kid."

But first, understand that Cheryl Tate brought more than just two Beanpot Championships to Harvard. Most importantly, the Fitchburg, Mass. native brought a sense of respect to the Harvard women's ice hockey team.

In her four years on the Crimson squad, the best goalie in Harvard women's ice hockey history turned a fledgling program into a New England powerhouse.

"With Cheryl hot we can win anything," teammate Diane Hurley said earlier this year of the two-time All-Ivy goalie and two-time Beanpot MVP.

Thrust into the starting position her freshman year when Harvard's goaltending corps were reduced to one. Tate--who had never before approached the world of ice hockey--went on to set every Harvard goaltending record.

And in her sophomore year, Tate showed just how far she'd go to bring home a Harvard win. In the opening round of the 1982 Beanpot--the annual battle for Boston bragging rights--she recorded 67 saves in a five-overtime win over Northeastern. The game lasted just 13 seconds less than 100 minutes, but Cheryl Tate never let up.

"I was exhausted," Tate recalled earlier this year of that five-overtime circus. "But after the first overtime, they weren't going to score on me. We had come too far as a team. It was the first time I've felt so confident--especially that year, since we were supposed to be a joke."

In the ensuing championship game. Tate hung on to win her first Beanpot MVP award and preserved the Crimson's first 'Pot title in a 2-1 win over Boston University.

Last year, the Russian and Soviet Studies concentrator stopped 10 Northeastern shots in the final period of the Beanpot championship game to give the Crimson a 2-1 upset triumph, a second straight 'Pot and herself a second straight MVP award.

"Last year we outshot them three-to-one," Northeastern Coach Don MacLeod says. "Cheryl Tate was awesome. She was miraculous. You don't lose a lot of games when you outshoot [your opponent] three to one."

Then again, not too many goalies approach the game like Tate.

"I like the intensity of the position, the pressure," Tate says.

For the Boston banker-to-be, who hopes to return to the Harvard bench again next year as the goalie coach, the only dark spot on an otherwise superlative record is a 12-0 embarassing loss in the finals of this year's Beanpot.

Considering where she started from, though, Tate's success story is near-inspirational. "Ice hockey was always my favorite sport," she recalls, "but my high school didn't have a girls' team, and I couldn't skate well enough to make a boys' team.

"But I think I could make one now."