SEASON RECAP: Youth Propels Crimson to Brink of Playoff Berth

When junior Jess Halpern went down with a season-ending injury just two games into the regular season, it would have been easy for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team to pack it in the rest of the way.

Going into the 2010 season, Halpern, the reigning Ivy League scoring champion, was supposed to be the centerpiece of a Crimson squad that was expected to contend for one of the Ancient Eight’s four playoff berths.

Things changed dramatically when Halpern tore her MCL and ACL less than 120 minutes into the 2010 campaign during a 15-10 loss to Johns Hopkins.

But rather than letting things go downhill from there, the youthful Harvard team (8-7, 3-4 Ivy) rallied and put together a successful season, finishing just one game short of making the inaugural Ancient Eight tournament.

“We didn’t stop, and we didn’t go backwards—it’s really going to help us launch into next season,” freshman Jennifer VanderMeulen said.

VanderMeulen, a heavily-recruited attacker, was one of the 10 first-year players who were forced to take on a larger role due to the team’s injuries.

“[The freshmen] came in here, and they knew what was expected of them,” junior Sam McMahon said. “They were not being timid—they were playing like they were seniors.”

VanderMeulen made the largest impact, taking on the role of the team’s top offensive weapon, as the freshman finished with a conference-high 56 goals to go along with 27 draw controls.

While VanderMeulen’s ability to finish shots helped her team on the scoreboard, it also helped inspire her classmates.

“To have Jenn out there taking it to goal early really helped,” said freshman Danielle Tetreault, who started at midfield for the Crimson from the first game. “It really showed us what we could do and what we needed to do.”

Sophomore Melanie Baskind, playing her first season of collegiate lacrosse, broke onto the scene in a big way as well, picking up a team-leading 41 ground balls while notching 32 goals. Baskind came on especially strong late in the season, as the midfielder scored five goals in Harvard’s final two contests, wins over Columbia and Boston College.

But while the Crimson finished the season on a tear—winning four of its last five contests by a total of 24 goals—the team struggled in earlier games.

After the squad managed to pull off an early win over then-No. 15 New Hampshire, Harvard dropped contests to weaker Ivy opponents Brown and Yale.

“We weren’t together for those games,” VanderMeulen said. “Those are the shoulda, woulda, coulda games we wish we could play again.”

But the Crimson had a turnaround moment when the team traveled south to take on then-No. 4 Virginia. Harvard hung with the top-five team for much of the contest, even leading late in the first half. A late Cavalier run helped Virginia close out the contest, 14-9, but the close match gave the Crimson confidence.

Harvard rebounded with wins over Holy Cross and Princeton, putting the Crimson in solid contention for the Ivy League tournament. When Harvard defeated Columbia in its final conference match of the season, it needed wins from Penn and Dartmouth to take the final playoff berth.

But while the Quakers took care of business, a Princeton upset over the Big Green doomed the Crimson and kept it on the outside of the conference tournament.

“It makes you want to make sure that next season we’re the ones playing in the game that matters,” Tetreault said.

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.