Athlete of the Week: Yenne Dons Hat Again

Joey Yenne saved her best performance of the year for arguably the biggest game yet.

She scored a hat trick against Yale in Saturday's women's soccer match, bringing her goal total up to eight for the year, already two more than the total in her freshman campaign.

Yenne, a sophomore forward from St. Cloud, Minnesota, netted all three Harvard goals, carrying the Crimson to a 3-1 victory and setting up a showdown with Princeton, the only undefeated team left in the Ivy League.

Yenne, a consistent scorer in her two seasons at Harvard, has been

especially needed this year with the injury to last year's scoring leader, sophomore Beth Totman.

Yenne does more than threaten to score. She puts the ball in the goal. Her knack for the net developed at Pensacola High School, where she scored an incredible 71 goals in 1996 before making the move to St. Cloud Tech.

While this is Yenne's second hat trick of the year (her first came against Vermont), her performance against the Elis was her most impressive.

"Joey had a phenomenal game," said co-captain Brooke McCarthy. "It's huge to do this against rivals like Yale. Ivy League games are usually a lot closer, the play is tougher."

Yenne, however, had no trouble scoring goals Saturday.

Her first goal opened the scoring in the 35th minute, and Yenne did it all by herself. Picking up a loose ball about 30 yards from the goal, Yenne turned toward the Yale net. She dribbled around two defenders, amazingly keeping the ball at her feet despite the tangle of legs, and sprinted by a third before driving the ball past the Yale goalie.

"Joey's first goal was awesome," said co-captain Lauren Corkery. "She has an innate ability to keep the ball at her feet, keep control, and finish. Joey had a career game."

Yenne netted her second score 51 minutes into the game on a pass from freshman midfielder Cailtlin Fisher. Settling the ball in front of the Yale net, Yenne turned and fired.

In the 54th minute, sophomore Orly Ripmaster served a beautifully arching ball from the right sideline, which Yenne redirected past the unprepared Yale goalie for the hat trick.

"Joey's great at getting position," Corkery said. "She put the ball back to the side that it came from, which is exactly what you want to do on a header."

Yenne has been a star all year despite a soar left knee.

"She was hurt early, but she's been playing through it," said freshman Katie Westfall. "She's a role model for the younger players on the team. If I make a poor pass, she can recover it. If my head's down, she'll come over and encourage me."