Sasner to Take on Assistant Coach Posts

Whoever said you can't go home again has never talked to Julie Sasner.

Just one month after the eight-time varsity letter-winner graduated, Sasner was named to assistant coaching positions for both the Harvard women's soccer and ice hockey teams, Director of Athletics John P. Reardon '60 announced this week.

Named the 1988 Player of the Year by The Crimson, Sasner--the all-time leading scorer of the women's ice hockey team--is one of the most prolific women athletes in Harvard history. In each of her four years in Cambridge, she was an outstanding performer for both of the teams she will now coach.

Under Coach Bob Scalise in 1984, Sasner helped the women's soccer team to the NCAA Quarterfinals before the squad fell to UMass. During her senior year, under first-year Coach Tim Wheaton, the Crimson fell short of the Ivy League championship and the NCAA Tournament in the final weekend of the season, but posted a solid 8-2-3 overall record.

A halfback with the best ball-handling skills on the team, according to teammates, Sasner continually won loose balls in the midfield. By playing a conservative defensive midfield, Sasner sacrificed her offensive totals for the sake of the team.

For her outstanding ball control and defensive skills, Sasner was named to the All-Ivy soccer team three times in her career at Harvard.

But while Sasner's career on the soccer field was impressive, her career on the ice was incomparable.

If there is any one player who has turned the Harvard women's ice hockey team into an Ivy League champion, it would have to be Sasner, who is considered by many to be the best female skater to wear a Crimson jersey.

In 1984, Sasner broke in with a bang, nabbing Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors. And under Coach John Dooley, she kept on improving.

By the time she unlaced her skates for good, the native of Durham, New Hampshire ripped the twines 78 times and dished out 55 assists for a school record 133 points.

Named to the All-Ivy ice hockey team three times, Sasner was honored as the 1988 Ivy League Player of the Year. She was also voted Most Valuable Player by her teammates three times.

Sasner was so good a skater that she frequently worked out on the ice with the nationally ranked men's ice hockey team--including the squad that went to the NCAA Tournament final game in 1986.

Sasner's success soon spread to her teammates. In her junior year, the squad's two-time captain led the Crimson to a 10-0 Ivy record and the team's first Ivy League crown. Last year with Sasner's help, the team posted a 7-2-1 Ivy record and once again claimed the Ivy League crown.