DURHAM, N.C. – Another program first arrived for No. 4 Harvard field hockey on the eve of the NCAA Tournament Semifinals, as junior midfielder Lara Beekhuis earns NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete honors. First awarded for field hockey in 2009, the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete Award recognizes the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average participating at the final site for each of the NCAA Championships.

A key component for the Crimson's attack, Beekhuis is first student-athlete in program history to earn NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete honors and is now the sixth student-athlete in school history to win the award, with the most recent being three-time NCAA national champion in track & field competition Maia Ramsden '24 in 2023. Beekhuis is the second field hockey student-athlete in Ivy League history to win the award.

Across 60 career appearances on the pitch, Beekhuis owns 31 goals, 10 assists and a team-high 72 points. In each of her three seasons in Cambridge, Beekhuis has scored at least 10 goals, as she garnered All-Ivy League Second Team honors this season and All-Ivy League First Team honors last season. Beekhuis earned 2023 Ivy League Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors, becoming the first student-athlete in program history to do so.

A native of Laren, Netherlands, Beekhuis is a concentrator in psychology. Harvard takes on No. 3 Princeton in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals at noon tomorrow, as Crimson fans can watch the contest live on ESPNU.

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