A Few Good Men

Returning the top four scorers to any team would be the cause for lofty preseason expectations. The Harvard men’s lacrosse team’s returning talent hasn’t gone under the radar—the media has noticed, slotting the Crimson at No. 16 in the LaxNews Preseason Poll.

Yet old faces aren’t everything, especially coming off of a somewhat disappointing 2010 campaign that saw Harvard go 6-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play. Add an entirely new coaching staff into the mix, led by Chris Wojcik ’96, and there are many uncertainties heading into the 2011 season.

Yet these ambiguities leave plenty of room for the highly touted 2011 freshman class to make an immediate impact.

“I think that the freshman class is very talented,” Wojcik said. “They’re also great kids of high character. I think they will have a significant impact on this program pretty quickly. There will probably be at least three of them who will probably play significant minutes this year.”

Ranked ninth by Inside Lacrosse, the freshman class may not boast one obvious standout newcomer, but is noteworthy for its considerable depth—the publication ranks four of the 10 freshmen in the list of top-100 recruits.

“They’re a very hardworking crew,” junior co-captain Kevin Vaughan said. “They’re not really flashy guys. They’re not a lot of guys that are going to wow anybody. At the same time, they are a lot of guys that are really hard workers. They really play well between the lines—they do a lot of dirty work.”

This depth and consistency might prove to be more valuable than raw talent alone. Increased depth will serve to make practices more competitive and to more accurately simulate live-game situations.

“Everyone has a clean slate,” Vaughan said. “There are guys jockeying for positions at the attack, midfield, defense, and goalie, so there is this new air about our team where everyone is fresh, [and] loves playing lacrosse right now. We’re just having a ton of fun.”

Freshman attack Carl Zimmerman is one such attackman jockeying for playing time. Hailing from Homer, N.Y., Zimmerman is the most highly-ranked freshman in the class, slotted at No. 30 by Inside Lacrosse. He lays claim to the Homer High School scoring record with 188 goals and 267 points in only three years of action. Zimmerman, along with Garrett Campbell, are the only two attackmen in the freshmen class. Both will be valuable additions to the Crimson’s already strong offensive unit.

Freshman long-stick midfielder John Rose, from Locust Valley, N.Y., will also likely have an immediate impact. Ranked 35th of the top-100 recruits, Rose helped Deerfield Academy to a 65-3 record. Rose was also named to the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Preseason Team and the Preseason Rookie of the Year.

“I mean, obviously, it’s a great award, but you have to stay humble.” Rose said. “There is not one guy that is going to carry the team on his back...I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, trying to help out the team.”

Another freshman expected to be vying for minutes from game one is midfielder Eric Slingerland, who is ranked 43rd of the top-100 recruits. Hailing from Beverly, Mass., Slingerland holds the Phillips Exeter Academy record for most career goals scored by a midfielder with 154.

Yet the high level of talent doesn’t mean the transition will be easy for the incoming class.

“The biggest jump for freshmen is to be able to make the jump physically, into the speed of the game,” Wojcik said. “A lot of them made significant strides getting stronger, getting faster, getting in better shape.”

“For a few of them, their development has been accelerated by physical development. Now they’re in a position where they can compete college lacrosse-wise,” Wojcik added.

Yet the freshmen won’t be making the transition alone.

“[The upperclassmen] have been great,” Rose said. “They’ve really done a great job of welcoming us and creating a family atmosphere among the entire team.”

“The freshmen really pick up on the mentality of the upperclassmen every single year,” Vaughan said. “So the juniors and seniors have a big hand in framing the mentality of the freshmen class.”

The better the transition for the freshmen, the more likely that the Crimson will be able to live up to its high expectations.

“We’re hungry, as a team and the coaching staff as well,” Rose said. “We’re going to make some noise this year.”

—Staff writer David E. Lopez-Lengowski can be reached at delopez@college.harvard.edu.