A Jahelka Good Defender

When Stephen Jahelka felt his Achilles tendon snap in his second active game of his junior year, he was forced into a decision that no player wants to make. With only one year of eligibility left in his college career and a multitude of opportunities in front of him besides playing Major League Lacrosse, Jahelka could either endure a rehab process that was expected to last more than a half year or simply call it quits.

“On the car ride home, it didn’t really occur to me how bad it was,” Jahelka recalled. “I called Pete, one of my old friends from high school who had also torn his Achilles, and what he told me was, ‘This isn’t only going to be a physical battle but [also] a mental battle—an extremely challenging mental one.’ I kind of just shrugged that off.”

Jahelka had overcome shoulder surgery the previous season, and he was confident that he could come back strong once again. This time around, however, the frustration set in early. As he struggled to come to terms with his injuries, he was also forced to think about why the sport he had played since he was four really mattered.

“It was when I was sitting around, not doing anything, that I realized how lacrosse had always been a way I could give my parents something to be proud of,” Jahelka said. “When that was taken from me for pretty much an entire year, it hurt a lot.”

Before long, he discovered exactly what his old teammate Pete had meant. Not only was Jahelka mired in a mental battle, he was also losing it.

“Once I realized that, I was able to see the bigger picture,” Jahelka explained. “I was able to erase the pressure of making people proud. For the last six months, the focus was not to let the voices in my mind win.”

Luckily for Jahelka, the support system on the Crimson was set up to help him through his recovery process. Jahelka hails from Garden City, N.Y., a community that emphasizes youth lacrosse and has sent countless athletes to Harvard to play the sport. Since arriving in Cambridge in 2011, Jahelka has been a part of a lively Long Island presence on the team that includes fellow team captain Sean Mahon, leading scorer Devin Dwyer, and faceoff man James Sullivan, among several others. All of the players have known each other for years, dating back to youth—leagues and, of course, high school lacrosse.

“There wasn’t a single guy I remember who didn’t text me at some point during that process to ask how I was doing,” Jahelka said. “To have 42 of your friends as an unwavering barrier of support was absolutely incredible when I was in recovery. Especially Bobby [Duvnjak, a fellow defenseman], who was injured at the same time I was. They got me through it.”

Probably more than any other factor, family strength has been a common thread throughout the trials and tribulations of his lacrosse career. That connection only increased as his Achilles healed.

The support of not just one team but two allowed Stephen to turn his physical limitations into an opportunity to grow closer to those around him. Jahelka’s sister, Jacqueline, remembered how he involved his family throughout the process.

“He would call us and say, ‘I ran for a minute today.’ It was like we were right by him going through the process with him,” Jackie recalled. “And one of the first things he told me after the injury, I’ll never forget, was ‘Jackie, now I can watch all of your games.’”

For the Jahelka family, the strong bonds recently came full circle last Saturday, when the team suited up at Hofstra University to face No. 4/4 Duke in a neutral site game.

For Jahelka, however, the crowd was anything but neutral. His grandmother, who had attended Hofstra, mother, sister, aunt, uncle, and cousins, as well as high school friends and teammates, all came out to support him as the Crimson secured the 14-9 upset win, its first win over Duke since Jahelka joined the team. What made the victory even sweeter was that it came on the same field that Jahelka had played every year in high school for the state championship.

While he sat on the sidelines last season, Jahelka also had a chance to bond with his teammates in a new way. For every technique he couldn’t teach a teammate with an example on the field, for each piece of advice he couldn’t bark out from the center of the defense, Jahelka made up for it by being vocal from the sidelines, especially in practice.

“Some players fade into the background when they get injured,” Harvard coach Chris Wojcik ’96 said. “Stephen, though, not only remained involved with the team as a whole, but helped individual players improve. He was almost like another coach.”

This year, with Jahelka and Duvnjak back on the field, the Crimson defense has restored its backbone. This new cohesiveness has produced impressive results, as the unit held Duke, now the nation’s seventh-rated scoring offense, to a season-low nine goals last Saturday.

While Harvard has started the season 4-1 and has high hopes of bouncing back from a disappointing sixth-place conference finish last year, Jahelka knows that adversity will eventually hit. But perhaps more than anyone else, he also knows how to overcome it—how to lean on family and friends and come back stronger.

“I chose this school because I wanted to help build a program,” Jahelka mused. “I remember that all I wanted after four years was to be able to look back and say that I started something. We have a chance to do just that this year.”