CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Winners of five games in a row, Harvard Women's Lacrosse (7-5, 3-2 Ivy League) will play its final regular season home game on Saturday (April 22) against Columbia (3-10, 0-5 Ivy League) with a 2:00 pm start at Jordan Field. The game will air on NESN. Harvard has won seven of its last eight games overall, and with another victory, would clinch its winningest season since 2017.

QUICK HITTERS 

- Last Saturday against No. 16 Yale, sophomore Caroline Mullahy had a goal and four assists, Callie Hem, Hannah Shiels, and Charlotte Hodgson each tallied two goals, and Maddie Barkate notched give draw controls to help lead Harvard to a 10-9 win over the Bulldogs, Harvard's first win over a ranked opponent this season. Junior goalie Chloe Provenzano made seven saves to earn the win in net.
- Harvard will honor its nine-member senior class after the game against Columbia, which includes Shea Jenkins, Sierra Agarwal, Grace Bartosh, Grace Hulslander, Charlotte Swisher, Stephanie Hong, Olivia Proctor, Maggie McCarthy, and Meredith Langmuir.
- A win on Saturday, combined with a Brown loss, and Harvard would clinch its second straight appearance in the Ivy League Tournament, which would be its first back-to-back conference postseason tournament appearances since 2016 and 2017.
- Callie Hem (36 goals, 3^rd in Ivy League) and Riley Campbell (29 goals, 8^th in Ivy League) are one of the most potent offensive duos in the Ivy League (No. 4 scoring pair in the league). Hem leads Harvard with 50 points (36 goals, 14 assists), and 58 shots on goal. She leads the Ivy League with an average of 4.17 points per game and is second in goals per game (3.00). Campbell is fifth in the Ivy League in points per game (3.42).
- Junior midfielder Maddie Barkate (74 draw controls) has been dominant, recording the most draw controls of any Harvard player since 2004. Barkate leads the Ivy League with an average of 6.17 draw controls per game (23rd, NCAA).
- Despite missing three games, sophomore Grace Taylor leads the team with 23 gound balls. Charlotte Hodgson (21 ground balls) and Caroline Mullahy (20 ground balls) have also been key to Harvard's possession game. First-year Despina Giannakopoulos leads the Crimson with 15 caused turnovers. Senior captain Shea Jenkins (14 caused turnovers, 38 draw controls, 14 ground balls) has also been impressive.
- Harvard is first in the Ivy League with an average of 20.00 ground balls per game (5^th, NCAA), and has picked up more ground balls than the opposition in all but three games this season, including a season high 33 ground balls against Yale on Saturday.
- Harvard is third in the Ivy League in clearing percentage (86.6%), with senior captain Stephanie Hong helping the Crimson in that category. 
- Harvard returned 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.

WE CAN DO HARD THINGS
On Saturday, Harvard highlighted the efforts of the Mass General Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program (AYA), honoring sophomore Grace Taylor, who has helped bring awareness to the program.

THE MATCHUP

A LOOK AT COLUMBIA
Columbia is led up front by Cecelia Messner (24 goals, five assists) and Dani Falcone (22 goals, six assists). Falcone averages a free position goal per game (11 overall) and is second in the Ivy League in that category. Senior goalie Ella Sangree is second in the Ivy League with 117 saves, averaging nine saves per contest.

SERIES HISTORY
Harvard owns a 19-4 record in the all-time series against Columbia. Last year in New York on April 16, 2022, Maddie Barkate scored four goals, Callie Hem had three goals and two assists, and Grace Hulslander had a four-point game (three goals, assist) to lead Harvard.

NOTES AND STORYLINES 

PARTY LIKE ITS 1996
Harvard is in search of its sixth win in a row, which would be its best winning streak since the 1996 season (won seven in a row that year). Harvard has averaged 14.00 goals per game during the streak and is allowing just 8.2 goals per contest during that span.

HONG, JENKINS, LANGMUIR SERVING AS 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.

UP NEXT

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.