CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard women's lacrosse opens Ivy League play on Saturday (March 4) at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ when it travels to Brown to take on the Bears at Stevenson-Pincince Field.
 
Harvard is coming off its most successful Ivy season in several years, as it finished 4-3 in Ivy play in 2022, clinching the No. 4 seed in the Ivy League Tournament with a dramatic Senior Day win over the Bears last April.
 
Junior Riley Campbell (four goals, three assists) leads the team in scoring, pairing with Callie Hem (four goals, assist) as Harvard's top scoring threats. Sophomore Grace Taylor (7) leads the team in ground ball pick-ups. Junior Ilana Kofman (five ground balls, three caused turnovers) and senior captain Shea Jenkins (three caused turnovers, seven draw controls) have also been impactful.

QUICK HITTERS 

- In Harvard's home opener last Saturday against Georgetown, the Crimson and Hoyas engaged in a back-and-forth contest. Georgetown led 7-4 late in the first half, but the Crimson scored twice in the last two minutes, with Callie Hem scoring with 22 seconds left in the 2^nd quarter to make it a 7-6 game. Harvard's defense clamped down in the second half, allowing just three Georgetown goals in the final 30 minutes. Harvard rallied to tie the game with 6:40 remaining in the fourth quarter on Caroline Mullahy's first score of the year, but Georgetown would score the deciding goal with 1:58 remaining in a 10-9 win for the Hoyas.
- Riley Campbell (two goals, two assists), Callie Hem (two goals), and Hannah Shiels (two goals) all had multiple goal efforts, while Caroline Mullahy (goal, two assists, four ground balls) also filled up the stat sheet. Grace Taylor led the team with six ground balls, while Shea Jenkins and Ilana Kofman each added a pair of caused turnovers.
- 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 BROWN
Brown is led by senior midfielder Mia Mascone, who was the leading scorer for the Bears last season (31G, 15A) and is leading Brown this year with six goals and one assist in two contests. Junior attack Leah Caputo (3G, 3A) has also been effective up front. Freshman Claire Mahoney (7.50 GAA, 20 saves) has started both games in cage for Brown. The Bears defeated Hofstra, 10-7, in their season opener before falling to UAlbany, 8-7, last Saturday.

HARVARD VS. BROWN
Harvard owns a 34-12 mark in the all-time series against Brown, winning six of the last seven meetings against the Bears. Harvard is looking for its first victory in Providence since April 15, 2017, when it earned a 19-12 victory at Stevenson-Pincince Field.

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 will take on Vermont next Tuesday (Mar. 7) in a 5 p.m. contest on ESPN+ at Jordan Field.