CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Harvard Women's Lacrosse is back in action on Wednesday (March 22) when it heads to North Andover to take on Merrimack for the first time in program history. Harvard is coming off two strong offensive performances with a 12-10 win at Coastal Carolina and a 16-13 setback to No. 23 Penn this past Saturday. Junior midfielder Callie Hem had 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in the two games combined to lead the Crimson.

QUICK HITTERS 

- Hem leads Harvard with 29 points (20 goals, nine assists), and 34 shots on goal. She leads the Ivy League with an average of 4.14 points per game and is third in goals scored.
- Junior midfielder Riley Campbell is close behind Hem with 21 points (18 goals, three assists), and is fourth in the Ivy League in goals scored.
- Junior Ilana Kofman (13 ground balls, five caused turnovers) and first-year defender Despina Giannakopoulos (13 ground balls) lead the Crimson in ground ball pick ups. Senior captain Shea Jenkins (seven caused turnovers, 21 draw controls, seven ground balls) and junior midfielder Maddie Barkate (five ground balls, 37 draw controls) have also been impactful for the Crimson.
- In a back-and-forth contest on Saturday against Penn, Harvard saw its late comeback effort fall short, despite several standout individual efforts. Callie Hem led the squad with six goals on the afternoon. Hem added three assists to total nine points, a new career high. Caroline Mullahy also registered a new career-high with three goals on the day. Riley Campbell, Maddie Barkate and Charlotte Hodgson added two points each with a goal and an assist per player. Goalies Lizzie Francioli and Chloe Provenzano combined to make 10 saves in net.
- Junior Maddie Barkate is one of the best in the nation on draw controls, finishing second in the Ivy League with an average of 5.29 per game (42nd, NCAA).
- Harvard is third in the Ivy League with an average of 17.86 ground balls per game with Despina Giannakopoulos (2.17 ground balls/game) leading the way.
- Harvard is second in the Ivy League in clearing percentage (86.7%).
- 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 MERRIMACK
Merrimack is in its fourth season as a Division I program and is currently 2-7 on the year, coming off of a 18-4 win at Harvard last Saturday. Olivia Valdes (19 goals, six assists) leads the team in scoring, with Georgia Parker (13 goals) and Sophie Scearbo (13 goals) also top goal scoring options. Goalie Hayley Kowalczyk has started eight of nine games and has made 76 saves on the season.

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 the weekend off before returning to Ivy League play with a game at Dartmouth on April 1 on NESN+.