The 2023 Senior Perspectives is the 18th in a series of annual collections. Senior captains and representatives of teams at Harvard have been invited to contribute viewpoints based on personal experience from both their senior seasons and full varsity careers at Harvard.
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Hometown: Collegeville, Pa.
Sport: Field Hockey
Concentration: Neuroscience
House: Quincy
Harvard Field Hockey changed my life.
Coming in freshman year, I was terrified. Same as all first-years. I was worried about what my role on the team would be, worried my teammates wouldn't like me, worried that I'd never find my footing among such successful people. Looking back, though, I wish I could tell my 18-year-old self that my experience on this team would be life-changing and my teammates would become my best friends. There was a moment freshman year when this all became very clear. We were on the bus driving up to Dartmouth when my trainer discovered I had appendicitis and had to be taken to a hospital immediately, which is when the most incredible thing happened. Every one of my teammates within earshot offered to stay behind with me and miss the game. Everyone in college athletics knows that game days are the days you live for. They're the reason you put in so many hours of work, but there wasn't an ounce of hesitation from them to miss it in order to make sure I didn't have to be alone. That was the moment I realized we were all in this for more than just field hockey. I realized that I had just joined a family.
My sophomore year we got sent home due to the pandemic, and I spent a year and a half away from my team missing an entire season. Having barely spent any hours on a field during this time, training with a new team with nearly half the players having never stepped foot on campus, and competing against teams who had been allowed to train during the COVID year, we had a huge task ahead of us. However, in my eyes and in the eyes of all my teammates, finally getting to put on a Harvard uniform again felt like an immense privilege, and it was impossible to think of every day on that field as anything but a gift. I truly believe that this was the reason that, against all odds, we ended up having the most record-breaking season in program history, winning the Ivy League championship and making it to the final four in the NCAA tournament. It was the most incredible feeling to watch my team, a group of women I have so much love for, thrive under seemingly insurmountable challenges.
In my final year, I was elected captain alongside two other members of my graduating class. I was a solid player prior to this, but I was certainly never the star. It was for this reason that I consider my captaincy to be one of the greatest accomplishments and most humbling honors of my life. In being elected captain, my team saw something in me that I hadn't always seen in myself, and they showed me that the impact we have as teammates and as leaders is so much bigger than what we do on the field. It has truly been the greatest experience of my life to get to captain a group of girls that I look up to myself.
When I committed to this program, we weren't considered competitors in the Ivy League and NCAA competition wasn't even on the table. Me and my entire class took a chance on this team because we saw what it could become, and I'm so unbelievably proud that I get to say we left Harvard Field Hockey better than we found it. Being given the opportunity to be a part of this program and to enact so much change has been an incredible honor, and I'm grateful for it every day. This team has taught me how to move forward in the face of adversity, it has taught me how to be a better leader and friend, and it has taught me the true meaning of family.
So yeah, I'd say Harvard Field Hockey changed my life.
