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: Concord, N.H.
Sport: Men's Soccer
Concentration: Psychology
House: Pforzheimer
My path to Harvard Men's Soccer was somewhat untraditional – I walked on to the team, earning a roster spot the summer before my freshman year. Coming in, I was nervous about joining the team and unsure about whether I would fit in with the recruits. I had just spent a gap year playing soccer at an academy in England, where my teammates were hell-bent on playing professionally. As a result, they were far more interested in their own individual performances than developing a team culture or making friends. I never felt at home in England, and worried that I might have the same problem at Harvard.
To my great relief, when I arrived for preseason, I was immediately surrounded by a group of individuals as talented as they were diverse in their backgrounds, goals, and interests. The Harvard soccer player is so much more than just a soccer player. I found myself not only among aspiring athletes but among future surgeons and engineers. On long bus rides we would play games, plan future trips together, and talk about the meaning of life (as corny as it sounds). I found a group that challenged me to be the best version of myself both on and off the field, and I was finally at home.
Still, I want to be careful not to overly idealize my four years on the team. My senior class experienced our fair share of hardship along the way. Our freshman year was quite literally the lowest point in program history, as we failed to win a single one of our 15 games. Soon after the season ended, a new coaching staff arrived with high hopes of turning the program around. Several months later, the COVID pandemic hit. Our sophomore season was cancelled, and we were forced to sit with the bitter feeling of a winless season for another year and a half without a shot at redemption.
In our junior year, the tide began to shift – our first game upon returning was a blow-out victory, and we ended the season with a winning record. We improved even further in our senior season, to the point where we were able to sit as a team on NCAA selection day knowing that we had a shot at getting a bid to the national tournament.
When I look back at my four years on the team, I'm obviously grateful for those final two seasons that ended on a high note. But I also relish those turbulent first years. As I, and many of my teammates, struggled not to lose our passion for the game amidst constant defeat, I continually revisited why I played the game in the first place. I was able to remember the childlike joy that I always had for soccer and did my best to help my teammates remember in turn. What is more, as we weathered that winless season as a group, we were forced to learn how to carry ourselves when things weren't going well. That is perhaps the greatest skill that I will take away from my time at Harvard. In the end, the shared responsibility that this senior class felt in turning the program around allowed us to grow closer than I could have ever imagined. I am so proud of our senior class and couldn't be happier with the place that we are leaving the team. Being a member of Harvard Men's Soccer has been the greatest privilege of my life, and I can't wait to see what this group accomplishes in the future.
