Halpern Gears up for Another Season in Spotlight

Playing as an unknown freshman can sometimes be a blessing in disguise. The opposing teams don’t have a full scouting report to go on and usually don’t have hours of tape to watch to dissect a player’s tendencies. While this may explain junior Jess Halpern’s breakout freshman campaign—which earned her the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award—it makes her exceptional sophomore season even more impressive.

“I thought last year she had a good year, and she had a good year with a lot of attention—she was getting double- and triple-teamed,” said third-year Harvard coach Lisa Miller. “They were sending everything they had at her early.”

The “good year” was good enough to lead the Ivy League in goals per game (2.88) and points per game (3.44) and to get Halpern named to the All-Ivy First Team.

“She is awesome,” co-captain Sara Flood said. “She’s just so athletic. Her moves are just unbelievable. She’s a great dodger, and she goes 100 percent all the time—she’s always working really hard on the field.”

Yet while Halpern may have enjoyed individual success in her first two seasons, her team’s performance has been far from outstanding.

“We had very high hopes for my freshman season going in, and we did really well,” said Halpern of Harvard’s 9-7 finish. “We were the underdogs in a lot of our games and came out victorious—we just did really well. We had really high hopes going into our sophomore season. Unfortunately, we had a little bit of a rut, but we finished strong.”

While the rut included a five-game losing streak, the Crimson did manage to end the season with two strong victories, including a convincing 11-7 win over a then-No. 20 Cornell team to finish the season at 6-10. Halpern scored four goals in the game.

The junior is optimistic that Harvard can carry that momentum into this season and hopefully put the Crimson lacrosse team on the national map.

“Going into the season, I’m so excited, and I think we are going to prove to a lot of people that Harvard [lacrosse] is on the rise,” Halpern said.

If that’s going to happen, everyone on the team is going to have step up their level of play—perhaps none more than Halpern.

After graduating second-leading scorer Kaitlin Martin ’09 last spring, Miller knew that adjustments had to be made to compensate for the loss of scoring. The first adjustment was to move Halpern to attack.

“As a midfielder, I got really tired by the end of the game,” Halpern said. “I think my coach realized that and noticed that my production level in the second half wasn’t as good as in the first half. And as a result of that, [Miller] told me she’s going put me on attack so I’m not tired, and I’ll be strong throughout the entire game.”

But a change of position won’t be the only adjustment Halpern will have to embrace this upcoming season. The jump from sophomore to junior is a big one—and she is ready to take on the increased leadership role that comes along with it.

“I feel like now that I am a junior, I’m starting to take on a more vocal role, and it’s important to be able to motivate my teammates and push them to be the best that they can be,” Halpern said. “I lead by example in the fact that I have a really strong work ethic, and every day I come to practice, and I work so hard. And I think working hard resonates through the team. It trickles down, and if you see someone working hard, it makes you want to work even harder.”

Halpern knows that this work ethic and experience will be invaluable to the team, especially given the nine-deep freshman class, who will look to her along with the two captains for leadership.

But Halpern will also look to them to help take on some of the scoring load.

“I may not be scoring as much this year, because we have so many versatile players,” she explained. “We are all going to be scoring.”

While Halpern has had a lot of practice leading a younger generation on the field, she has also had a lot of practice leading off the field as well.

In addition to playing on the lacrosse team, Halpern has been involved with MetroLacrosse during her time in Cambridge. The program aims to mentor and tutor younger lacrosse players in the greater Boston area in hopes of getting them a better chance at getting into a good prep school and then eventually into a good college.

“[The kids] love coming and meeting all of us—we are their role models, and I love giving back,” Halpern said.

Unfortunately for Halpern’s opponents, she won’t be as kind to the other Ivy League