Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Lydia Gantert Senior Allie Rivard was a key contributor for the soccer team which hasn't won fewer than 15 games over the past four years.

The UW-Eau Claire girls' soccer team will dearly miss its senior class next season, coach Sean Yengo said. One of the exceptional players who will be missing from the lineup is senior All-American goalkeeper Allison Rivard.

Rivard, who has been playing soccer for 18 years, will graduate in May with a major in biology and a minor in sociology. She will definitely miss it, she said, but plans to stay involved in soccer in the future.

"After playing it for so long, obviously it's weird not being there," she said, "but I've been doing some coaching and stuff, so (I am) definitely planning on staying involved in it. … I think I would really like to be a keeper coach."

Rivard was very successful as a soccer player, Yengo said, earning All-America honors this past season, and she was also a very successful student.

"She was an academic All-American the year before," he said, "so she's had both of those honors, which is a pretty awesome accomplishment."

He attributed her success - both on and off the field - to her work ethic and her attitude, which he said was "right on the money." He said she elevated the level of play of those around her, and she was a good leader for the team.

"I think our statistics really speak volumes about how successful she was," he said. "… She played on a team that had 18 shutouts, which is not only a school record, but a conference record. She played on a team that had 23 wins in a season, which is both a conference record and a school record. She was an All-American goalkeeper … it's a tough position to get that honor."

Through all her years of playing soccer, Rivard never dreamed that she would one day be named an All-American. It was her proudest accomplishment, she said.

"That was one of those things growing up where you heard about All-Americans, and it was like, 'oh my gosh, that's so cool!' … I never thought I would get to that point, and to actually do that was pretty unbelievable for me."

The 2008 season was especially important to Rivard because it was her final year as a Blugold, and she tried to keep that in mind at all times.

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