Field Hockey Hopes to Bring Its Best Game to NCAA Home Crowd

“We’re hosting, we’re hosting, we’re hosting.”

Those words shrilly echoed through the Murr Center Tuesday night as the No. 14 Harvard field hockey team was swept by the realization that its NCAA tournament road would begin at Jordan Field on Saturday, later set for 11 a.m.

Now the next step for Harvard is to take full advantage of its fortunate situation by delivering the complete hockey game against No. 3 Michigan St. that has been elusive against top-ranked competition all season.

Harvard (12-5) may be distant from the Spartans (21-2) in the national rankings. But because the Crimson has the experience of playing within a goal of No. 2 Wake Forest and led before slipping up against No. 8 Northeastern, there’s no sense of a wide disparity.

“I really feel we don’t have that many leaps that we have to make to come up with wins this weekend,” says junior Kate McDavitt, who leads Harvard with 14 goals and six assists this year. “A lot of the games we lost this season were because we didn’t come out as strong as we should have.”

Unlike the Harvard team that made the tournament in 2000, this year’s squad has tournament experience and consequently higher expectations.

“Half these kids were in the tournament two years ago, and we were really just thrilled to be in it,” says Harvard coach Sue Caples. “Now we have to show that we can win.”

Harvard has stayed in control of all but a few of its games. Only Princeton and Wake Forest have outshot Harvard this year—Wake Forest by just a 16-14 margin.

Two key areas of improvement this season that allow Harvard to hold those statistics at the national level are its team defense and its drawing and execution of corners.

Back in 2000 when McDavitt was a freshman, she could electrify crowds with her ability to consistently maneuver between defenders. When she returned this season after missing all her sophomore year to knee injuries, her speed was no longer there. Instead she fit into an offense more focused on good passing and avoiding getting caught in possession.

“The most improvement I’ve had to make this year is my vision on the field and passing,” McDavitt says. “I can’t do those one-on-ones that I used to. I had to adjust my game more to passing and just really playing with the team.”

McDavitt’s return this season was a blessing to the team from the beginning.

“It’s been really inspirational to see her come back,” says sister Jen McDavitt, a Crimson starter in the midfield. “I know it was so hard for her. To see her so was tough for me as well, because I loved playing with her, I wanted her back on the field. She’s not 100 percent, but she’s definitely putting her heart into it.”

Despite the injuries, McDavitt doubled her goal total from freshman year.

“That’s been kind of a surprise to me, but the team’s definitely stronger,” she says. “Basically my spots on corners and my spots upfield are pretty much the places you need to be in order to get the ball in front of the net. That’s helpful.”

Instead of dazzling competitors with her maneuverability in the open field, McDavitt has shown her explosiveness on corners, both on carefully planned options and gritty rebounds. Both Harvard goals against Wake Forest came as McDavitt scored on corner rebounds.

Harvard’s improved execution on corners has been due largely to the emergence of the ability of junior Liz Andrews and sophomore Shelley Maasdorp in delivering the hard hits from the top of the circle.

All the corner execution would be meaningless if Harvard didn’t keep its opponents off the scoreboard, but the Crimson has done that with increasing frequency this season. Harvard closed out the year with three straight shutouts to bring its overall total to nine.

Harvard has kept teams off the scoreboard largely by possessing the ball itself and attacking from all positions, as well as creating pressure as soon as it loses the ball.

“If I would pick an area that’s a tremendous strength it’s our team defense,” Caples says. “It starts from the top, by the forwards playing high-pressure defense up top and coming back on the ball.”

And when the ball does enter the defensive third, Harvard has generally averted danger. The backfield was the Crimson’s most heavily hit area due to graduation as only captain Katie Scott returned, but First Team All-Ivy midfielder Jen Ahn was shifted back, and Andrews and junior Diana Bowen filled the other holes.

That unit has generally made life easier for junior goalkeeper Katie Zacarian, who hasn’t found herself in as many situations where she she needed superstar efforts just to keep Harvard in games.

Zacarian is plenty active even when she isn’t being barraged by shots. She’s the vocal leader of the defense, and through her good communication with the backfield, prevents herself from having to makes saves well in advance.

“Even though she hasn’t had to play the ball that much, just having her on the field is really comforting and gives you confidence,” Ahn said.

Harvard has followed its recipe for success for the most part this season. The Crimson’s worst departure came at the most crucial time of the season—when it played its nearest regional rival B.C. and Ivy rival Princeton. The timing was especially surprising because the team had just come off a weekend of dominant performances against California and New Hampshire, two teams that ultimately won regular season conference championships.

“B.C. and Princeton was one big bump in the road,” Caples says. “We were not a disciplined hockey team that week. I don’t know why. Was it exams, was it too much expectation, was it coming off a great week of Cal or New Hampshire? To their credit, they pulled it back together.”

After losing out on the Ivy title, Harvard instead had to rely on good fortune to make the tournament. It got plenty of that, as nearly every team in contention for at-large berths lost in the first round of their conference tournaments.

“After [the Princeton loss] I thought it was going to be a long shot, and I didn’t really change my mind on that until our coach told us we had been ranked No. 2 in the region [Monday],” McDavitt says. “That made a big difference.”

So as a consequence of the long list of national rivals that fell just short, Harvard once achieved the less straightforward method of making the national tournament.

“Sometimes it’s harder to win a conference than win an at-large bid,” Caples says. “You’re competing with so many more teams than just within your conference. I think the Ivy thing is just really psychological for us and we just need to eliminate that mental obstacle, whatever it is.”

The Crimson is certain that its best field hockey is still yet to come, and it was grateful to learn from the NCAA Selection Show that it would not only showcase that hockey at the national level, but also the chance to do it in front of the home crowd.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.