Romeo Overcomes Knee Injury for Career Success

Senior attacker Marisa Romeo has a singular focus when she takes the field for the Harvard women’s lacrosse team.

“I am motivated by my desire to win,” Romeo said.

Her succinct attitude is reflected brightly in the success she’s had as a player. Since her freshman year, Romeo consistently has been both a force for the Crimson and a scoring threat to the entire Ivy League.

Romeo’s career began late in high school when she committed to Harvard, giving the school the country’s seventh-best incoming freshman as ranked by InsideLacrosse.com. As her rookie season in 2014 progressed, her highly-recruited status proved justified, and Romeo has gone on to achieve much more. Since then, the Syracuse, N.Y native has been the team’s top scorer and an All-Ivy player in each of her three years on the team. In her freshman season, Romeo started all 16 matches, ending the season with nine hat tricks and a league-high 48 goals.

Now, as she enters her last season donning the Crimson, Romeo looks to conclude her successful career with another great season. In early January, giving her a jumpstart, InsideLacross.com named Romeo to the preseason Honorable Mention All-American list.

Her history of winning precedes her tenure at Harvard. In high school, she claimed two lacrosse state championships, and the motivation to win Ivy League titles continues to drive the senior attacker to achieve more each game.

Even before she joined the Crimson, Romeo was always passionate about sports, playing almost every sport imaginable. Lacrosse, though, has always topped the list.

“I love lacrosse because it is very fast-paced—there’s a lot of room for creativity and innovation,” Romeo said. “It’s very rewarding.”

However, many players has that one outside factor that keeps them going. For Romeo, it has always been her family.

“My family members are unbelievably supportive of me,” Romeo said. “My family lives five hours away, and they never miss a game. They are so encouraging and have so much confidence in me. I owe anything I've ever accomplished to their unconditional love and support.”

According to Romeo, her passion for lacrosse and love for her family shine through in each game she plays. She also feels that she’s built a new family through Crimson lacrosse. The senior points to the relationships that she’s made on the lacrosse team as pillars defining her time in Cambridge.

The respect and admiration that she holds for her team is mutual.

“Marisa has a huge presence on the field and is a significant piece to the attack,” tri-captain attacker Maeve McMahon added.

As a crease attacker, Romeo controls the offensive tempo, an important role in the team’s play. The other captains point to Romeo’s work ethic and commitment as inspirational to the rest of the team.

“She’s the type of player who makes those around her better and is very easy to play with, making her a special player,” McMahon said. “The rest of the team has mimicked [her] commitment in investing extra time outside scheduled practice, which has been great to see.”

Romeo’s contribution to the Crimson attack was illustrated most strikingly during a 2014 road game at Vanderbilt, in which she scored career highs of six goals, six points, and one draw control.

However, Romeo’s success at Harvard has not always come easily. During her sophomore season, the attacker suffered a torn ACL and MCL. The road back from injury was not an easy one, but when she returned to the field, Romeo immediately continued her streak of dominating play.

“Throughout the season [of Romeo’s injury], she became stronger and stronger and regained and increased the ability she had before injury,” McMahon said. “Watching her get back to playing the game she loves at a very high level is definitely a memorable moment I have of her.”

Following her recovery, Romeo consistently led the team in goals and assists, posting season highs of four goals and three assists along the way.

For the Crimson senior, the 2017 lacrosse season has gotten off to a great start. During Harvard’s first game at University of New Hampshire on February 18th, Romeo scored four goals and registered an assist to help lead Harvard to a season-opening victory.

Romeo will hope to maintain that form throughout the season in pursuit of the team’s first Ivy League title since 1993.