By Tara Sowle
UWRF Sports Information

Falcon senior goalie Marlene Yaeger will be looked at to help lead a very young UWRF women’s hockey team in 2004-05. Yaeger says this year’s team, “has chemistry and a lot of the necessary items to be good. We lack experience, but we have a good coaching style that teaches us how to win games.”

Yaeger is one of two seniors this year and sees her role on the team as mediator between the new players and the experienced. “I like to stay in the shadows and it’s probably the best thing that (Lou) Paulson is captain this year,” Yaeger said. She leads by example and any example set by this All-American goalie should be one closely followed.

Besides holding several UWRF records, being a NCHA Most Valuable Player and a three time All-NCHA first team selection, she is also nationally recognized. Yeager was an All-American in 2003 when the Falcons won the NCHA playoffs and earned a berth in the NCAA Div. III national playoffs.

She is one of the top Div. III goalies in the country and a major cornerstone in the Falcon program.

“Yaeger is really a team leader and both her and (goalie Amber) Lindner are playing better than ever; Marlene is really playing at the top of her game,” Falcon Coach Joe Cranston said.

This high achiever talent does not end with hockey. She was a three-sport athlete for the Falcons - she ran cross-country in the fall track (mid distance) in the spring. She is not doing cross country this year, however, because cross country and hockey share September and November practice dates. “I knew that I wasn’t running my best or playing hockey at my best when having to double up on practices and games/races for two months.”

Last year was a big learning experience for Yaeger who went from going to the Frozen Four in the 2003 season to a 17-9-1 overall finish last year.

“I’m going into this season with high goals - I hope to receive 2005 All-NCHA team honors,” Yaeger said.

She believes that with discipline and maturity the Falcons can win the NCHA title.

Yaeger’s family was a major influence with her hockey playing. Her dad, Larry, was her goalie coach since she started playing at the age of five, and continued to coach her for the next seven years. Her brother was also a big supporter, helping make her the competitive player she is today. She never played for a high school team, but played for different men’s hockey clubs and with the Minnesota Thoroughbreds.
Her drive to succeed and to compete at the top of her level has really pushed her into managing every bit of her time.

“People ask me why I do it and it’s because I’m extremely ambitious and competitive; I strive to be in the best in everything I do because I feel if you don’t do something to the fullest than it’s not worth doing at all. Some people choose to do more in life, some people choose to do less.”

Marlene Yaeger