CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Women's Lacrosse will spend the first part of spring break in South Carolina, as it takes on Coastal Carolina tomorrow (March 14) in a 12 p.m. contest at Brooks Stadium.

Juniors Riley Campbell and Callie Hem lead the team in scoring with 12 goals each. Campbell also leads Harvard with 15 points (12G, 3A) overall. Junior Ilana Kofman (11 ground balls, four caused turnovers) and senior captain Shea Jenkins (four caused turnovers, 14 draw controls, six ground balls) have been impactful on the defensive end, as have sophomore Grace Taylor (eight ground balls) and junior midfielder Maddie Barkate (four ground balls, 30 draw controls).

QUICK HITTERS 

- Harvard is coming off of its first win of the 2023 season, a 15-12 triumph at Holy Cross last Saturday (March 11). In that contest Riley Campbell and Callie Hem each had four goals, and classmate Maddie Barkate added two goals and a career high 12 draw controls to lead the Crimson.
- Hem was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. She had seven goals in two games last week and is 13th (fourth in Ivy League) in the nation with a 71.4% mark on free position shots. Hem is also second in the Ivy League with 6.6 shots per game.
- Junior Maddie Barkate is one of the best in the nation on draw controls, leading the Ivy League with an average of six per game (26^th, NCAA).
- Harvard is third in the Ivy League with an average of 18.40 ground balls per game with Ilana Kofman (2.20 ground balls/game) leading the way.
- Harvard returns all six players that earned All-Ivy League honors last season, including leading scorer Callie Hem (34 goals, 10 assists), and midfielders Grace Hulslander (19 goals, six assists, 50 draw controls) and Shea Jenkins (31 ground balls, 21 caused turnovers) each earned First Team All-Ivy honors. Maddie Barkate (22 goals, five assists), Stephanie Hong (27 ground balls) and Grace Taylor (31 ground balls, 17 caused turnovers) earned All-Ivy Honorable Mention.
 - Last season the Crimson clinched a bid into postseason play in thrilling fashion, defeating Brown, 15-14 on Senior Day with a last-minute defensive stop. Harvard met Princeton in the Ivy League semifinals in a back-and-forth contest that saw the Tigers pull away late for a 13-6 win.  
- Harvard was the top-ranked team in the Ivy League with an average of 17.93 ground balls per game in 2022, with six student-athletes (Shea Jenkins – 31, Grace Taylor – 31, Stephanie Hong – 27, Grace Hulslander – 21, Chloe Provenzano – 21, and Charley Meier – 20) all posting 20 or more ground balls.
- Senior captain Shea Jenkins and sophomore Grace Taylor will lead the Crimson defensively. Jenkins (1.40/game) and Taylor (1.29/game) were ranked 2^nd and 3^rd in the Ivy League respectively in caused turnovers per contest last season.
- Battling through injury and a career interrupted by the pandemic, junior midfielder Callie Hem enjoyed a breakout 2022 season, finishing fifth in the Ivy League with an average of 2.27 goals per game. She recorded a season high six goals against Yale last April and had Harvard's game-winning goal in its Ivy playoff-clinching win over Brown later in that same month.

THE MATCHUP

A LOOK AT COASTAL CAROLINA
Coastal Carolina has won three games in a row to move to 4-2 on the year and is one of the most prolific scoring teams in the country with an average of 14.5 goals per game (16^th, NCAA), and 24.67 shots on goal per contest (10^th, NCAA). Redshirt junior attack Kayla Downey leads the team in scoring with 28 points (18 goals, 10 assists), with Avery McIlwaine (14 goals, four assists) and Hope Steurwald (14 goals) also top scoring options. Goalie Claire Martell (4-2, 9.86 GAA, .477 Save%) has started all six games.

HARVARD VS. COASTAL CAROLINA
This will mark the first ever meeting between Harvard and Coastal Carolina in women's lacrosse.

NOTES AND STORYLINES 

HARVARD PICKED THIRD IN IVY PRESEASON POLL
Harvard women's lacrosse was picked to finish third in the 2023 Ivy League Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll, the league announced in late January – Harvard's highest preseason ranking in several years.
 
IVY LEAGUE WOMEN'S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL
Predicted Order of Finish

1.	Princeton (14)	126
2.	Yale (2)	114
3.	Harvard	81
4.	Cornell	77
5.	Penn	72
5.	Brown	53
7.	Dartmouth	37
8.	Columbia	16

 
HONG, JENKINS, LANGMUIR ELECTED CAPTAINS
Last fall, Devon Wills, The Carole Kleinfelder Head Coach for Harvard Women's Lacrosse, announced that seniors Stephanie Hong, Shea Jenkins, and Meredith Langmuir will serve as captains for the 2023 season.

Hong, a midfielder from Bethesda, Md., was an All-Ivy League Honorable Mention selection in her first full season of college lacrosse. An IWLCA Academic Honor Roll selection, Hong emerged as a regular starter in 2022 and was a key part of Harvard's efforts on clears, recording 27 ground balls with six caused turnovers and six draw controls.
 
Jenkins, a midfielder from Newburyport, Mass., is a two-time All-Ivy honoree, earning First Team honors in 2022 and Second Team honors in 2019. She led the team with 31 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers in 2022 and was a force in the defensive end. She added 26 draw controls and was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week on March 7 after Harvard's 9-8 win at Penn.
 
Langmuir, a midfielder from Providence, R.I., became a regular contributor in 2022, recording five goals in 11 games played, including standout performances in wins against Holy Cross (three goals) and Boston University (two goals). Langmuir is also an IWLCA Academic Honor Roll selection.

HARVARD AND PRINCETON TO BATTLE ON ESPNU
In its final regular season game of the 2023 season, the Harvard and Princeton will meet on April 30 at noon in a game that will be played on ESPNU, the network announced in early February. Harvard and Princeton are the lone Ivy schools that will open the season against ranked competition this weekend.

UP NEXT
Harvard returns to Ivy League play this upcoming Saturday when it hosts No. 23 Penn at Jordan Field in a 12 pm contest on ESPN+.