Year in Sports 2019

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

MAY 30, 2019

Year in Sports FINAL FRENZY

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Table of Contents Year in Sports Staff SPORTS CHAIRS HENRY ZHU ’20 JOSEPH W. MINATEL ’21 STAFF WRITERS WILLIAM BOGGS ‘22 LEV COHEN ‘22

Men’s Basketball pages 8-10

A LAVIETES MAKEOVER A new chapter of the historic home of Harvard Basketball was turned with the $15 million dollar renovation this past fall.

WILL CONNAUGHTON ‘22 JACKSON DELGADO ‘22 JAMES JOYCE ‘22 AMIR MAMDANI ’21 BEN MORRIS ‘20 CADE PALMER ‘20 MAHTAB SHIHAB ‘22 BEN STERN ’22 STUTI R. TELIDEVARA ‘20 KOSTAS TINGOS ‘22 CONNOR WAGAMAN ‘22

QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

HENRY ZHU ’20 DESIGNERS TRUELIAN LEE ‘21 ELENA M. RAMOS ‘20 MATTHEW J. TYLER ‘22 AKHIL S. WAGHMARE ‘20 HENRY ZHU ’20 PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORS TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA ’20 QUINN G. PERINI ‘20 PRESIDENT KRISTINE E. GUILLAUME ‘20 MANAGING EDITOR ANGELA N. FU ’20 BUSINESS MANAGER CHARLIE B. ZHU ‘20

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THESIS IN HAND

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10 YEARS LATER: DATA FEATURE

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THE FUSCO LEGACY

Learn about five senior student-athletes who have achieved both academic and athletic excellence.

What career trajectories did student athletes from ten years ago embark on? Find out in our look at the numbers.

Senior Bradley Fusco of Harvard women’s hockey will be the latest Fusco to complete a storied career at Bright-Landry.

From the Editors Sports is a beautiful thing.

The thrill of calling yourself a champion, of holding up that trophy, of feeling on top of the world.

Here on campus, numerous teams did exactly that this season, from women’s squash to field hockey to men’s basketball to softball. Certainly a few teams on campus did have rebuilding seasons and bumpy paths, but all in all this was a great year to call yourself a Crimson fan.

But as much as sports is about wins and losses, it cannot be understated the true value of being a student-athlete, overshadowed in many ways by the unfortunate actions of a few who have maligned amateur athletics. That is, the lifelong bonds, intangible values, and unforgettable memories that those who will leave campus today will hold forever.

These are the things that will rarely show up in a stat

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PHOTO ESSAY

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MEN’S HOCKEY SEASON RECAP

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TRIPLE PLAY: STONE BROTHERS

A collection of our best sports photos of the year from our multimedia staff!

A late season run propelled the Crimson back into the national rankings and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Since 2016, there has been at least one member of the Stone family to take the field for the Crimson.

sheet, that only those who have endured those early-morning stadium runs, those frigid trips across the Charles River for practice, those endless hours in the weight room will understand. It is for the collective goal, one in which men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker called “sacrifice”, that is truly what is meaningful.

We hope that we have captured just a small snippet of the student-athlete experience at Harvard here. Although merely scribes and photographers, it continues to be a thrill to live vicariously through these experiences from the highs of lifting the Ivy trophy to suffering a heartbreaking loss. Nothing in life is more unscripted, more exhilirating, more community-building, than this small extracurricular called athletics.

Sports is a beautiful thing.

—HZ

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

THE BEST OF 2018-2019 Game of the Year

WINNER: Men’s Basketball vs. Columbia (Page 4)

Team of the Year

Coach of the Year

Comeback of the Year

WINNER: Men’s/Women’s Squash (Page 22)

WINNER: Tjerk van Herwaarden, Field Hockey (Page 6)

WINNER: Baseball vs. Yale (Page 5)

Athlete of the Year

Rookie of the Year FEMALE WINNER:

MALE WINNER:

Lindsay Reed, Women’s Hockey (Page 14)

Dean Farris, Men’s Swimming (Page 10)

FEMALE WINNER: Ellie Shahbo, Field Hockey (Page 31)

MALE MALE WINNER: WINNER: Geoffrey Tourette, Noah Kirkwood, Men’s Fencing Men’s Basketball (Page 29) (Page 20)

Athlete Perspectives

Robbie Feinberg, Men’s Basketball (Page 34)

Heartbreak of the Year

WINNER: Men’s Water Polo vs. Princeton (Page 30)

Parting Shot (Crimson Sports Board)

FEMALE WINNER: Taylor Rooks, Women’s Basketball Jack Stockless (Page 17) (Page 35) RUNNER-UP: Meagan Lantz (Online)

Breakout of the Year

FEMALE WINNER: Elizabeth Wang, Women’s Golf (Page 9) MALE WINNER: Aaron Shampklin, Football (Page 8) Performance of the Year FEMALE WINNER: Lisa Tertsch, Women’s Track (Page 33) MALE WINNER: Kieran Tuntivate, Men’s XC (Page 32)

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Double-Clutch

Game of the Year

Men’s Basketball vs. Columbia, 2/8/2019

By AMIR MAMDANI

QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

n February 8, 2019, a sold-out Lavietes Pavilion crowd of 1,636 people witnessed the most remarkable game that Harvard basketball played in nearly a decade. In a tintillating triple overtime classic, the Crimson held on to win by a 98-96 score, vaunting their conference record to 4-1 at the time.

The contest featured two stunning buzzer beaters — one by Columbia’s Gabe Stefanini to send the game to overtime, and the second by junior guard Bryce Aiken.

Aiken drilled a double-clutch triple from well beyond three-point territory to send the game to double overtime, one of the greatest individual moments in recent Harvard history.

“It was the luckiest shot of my career,” said the junior of his heroics against Columbia.

The shot became a bigger story than the eventual victory itself, as Aiken’s play was the opening highlight on Friday night’s 11:00 pm SportsCenter, and earned ESPN’s Top Play of The Night.

The three-pointer became the focus, but Aiken’s performance was a night for the ages in all respects.

The Randolph, N.J., native scored 44 points, one shy of a program record, and was the key cog in the Crimson’s first triple overtime contest since the 2009 season, when Jeremy Lin hit a buzzer-beater to beat William and Mary.

Aiken scored an impressive 18 consecutive points during the first and second overtimes, the strongest single-game performance for No. 11 in what was a career-best season.

The victory was Harvard’s seventh consecutive overtime triumph, and im-

TEAM RECAPS

proved the team’s record to a remarkable 17-4 in overtime games under Coach Tommy Amaker. Amaker credited the team’s victory to the grit and determination exhibited by Aiken and the rest of the team over the final 15 minutes of extra basketball.

“There is something to say about having the will just to keeping fighting and the will to win,” said Coach Amaker after the game. “It was just a sensational performance certainly by Aiken at the start.

He put us on his back and carried us to the finish line.”

And while the Crimson would later secure the regular season Ivy League title

Field Hockey

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Five or six years ago, we were number 50 or number 60 in the nation, and the leaders established this program to what it is right now.

TJERK VAN HERWAARDEN Head Coach

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*Place in Ivy League

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against Columbia in another pulse-racing contest in Morningside Heights, the triple overtime stunner was unquestionably the most exciting game Harvard played all season.

The win also had symbolic significance for the program, as the palpitating contest was the Crimson’s 300th victory within the confines of Lavietes Pavilion in its history.

Beating Columbia helped Harvard extend its win streak to five, as part of an eight-game stretch in which the Crimson would go 7-1, vaulting the team into the driver’s seat of the Ancient Eight standings.

Football

Overall record

51 Number of career wins for the senior class, a Harvard record

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And although Harvard and the team’s tired legs would fall against Cornell the next night — the team’s first and only Ivy League loss at Lavietes — the win over Columbia was the exclamation mark on an excellent spell of conference play.

Aiken’s strong effort was not the only standout performance in the triple overtime contest.

Junior wing Justin Bassey recorded a double-double, scoring 17 points and securing 10 rebounds. The Denver, Colo., native knocked down all four of his free throws and was a key cog in stopping the Lions from tying the game late.

“This was the definitely one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of or seen,” said Bassey in the post-game press conference. “Just got to enjoy it, enjoy the moment and everything that comes with it.”

Fittingly, on a night in which he was the star of the show, it was a pair of freethrows from Aiken that would seal the game.

With highly touted recruit Chris Ledlum and a talented recruiting class joining forces with rising seniors Bassey, Chris Lewis, Christian Juzang, and 2018 Ivy League Player of the Year Seth Towns, the Crimson will again set its sights on making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.

With the team hosting the Ivy League Tournament in 2020, Harvard will surely be a strong favorite to finally reach the NCAA Tournament.

Regardless of what transpires next season, it is hard to imagine a more thrilling moment in the career of No. 11 than February 8th, the night Aiken scored 44 to help the Crimson win in triple overtime. amir.mamdani@thecrimson.com

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Being able to play in Fenway … and to go out like this, I know our seniors enjoyed it and our team really enjoyed it.

ZACH MILLER Captain (After Harvard-Yale) *Place in Ivy League

Overall record

5 Touchdowns Thrown by Tom Stewart Against Columbia, tying a school record

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Nine in the Ninth Comeback of the Year Baseball vs. Yale, 4/6/19

By JACKSON DELGADO

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CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

ith an undergraduate student population over six times larger than Harvard’s and the capability to offer athletic scholarships, Penn State doesn’t ostensibly belong in the same Division I conference as the Crimson. But in men’s volleyball it is, and for 30 near-consecutive years, the Nittany Lions have beat up on their division rival.

On Saturday, April 6th, Yale took O’Donnell Field in the top of the ninth inning with its victory over Harvard seeming inevitable. With a comfortable 8-1 lead, the Bulldogs needed to record just three more outs to secure a win in the first game of the day’s doubleheader. But the third out never came.

Despite not playing their best baseball in the first eight innings of this contest, the Crimson ballplayers were not ready to give up just yet.

“Things just spun out of control in a couple of innings,” junior pitcher Kieran Shaw offered. “[But] back in the dugout in the bottom of the ninth, we were saying, ‘If there’s a time, why not now?’ We just wanted to go get it — and after a couple of guys got a couple of hits, there was no telling what could happen.”

Senior infielder Edwin Owolo lead off the bottom of the inning, punch hitting for junior infielder Quinn Hoffman. Owolo worked a walk, and ended up scoring after junior pitcher Hunter Bigge drew a baseon-balls with the bases juiced. Bigge then scored when junior infielder Chad Minato knocked a two-run single, bringing the

score to 8-4.

“We just went up there aggressive in the ninth inning, and we got guys on,” said Owolo, the Norwalk, Conn., native.

“We started making things happen, and there’s no telling what we can do when we get hot.”

Minato scored off of a single from senior outfielder Ben Skinner, and senior catcher Devan Peterson also contributed an RBI single, closing the deficit to just 8-6.

Harvard batted around, but recorded two outs in the process. Down to its last life, the team watched in agony as sophomore infielder Buddy Mrowka patiently worked a walk in what was arguably the

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CHARLIE DAVIS Captain *Place at HYP Meet

still one more game to be played — a game that Harvard would end up winning in a 3-0 shutout.

“That was crazy,” offered McColl, who was just awarded Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District recognition for players who excel both on the field and in the classroom. “It was the most fun baseball day, probably ever.”

The fairytale comeback was indicative of a truly storybook season for Harvard Baseball.

The 25-13 regular-season record boasted by this year’s team is by far the top record in recent memory, and the 15-7 conference record was good for first place in the Ivy League this season. The comeback for the ages against Yale was just one link in what has truly become a season to remember for Harvard Baseball. jackson.delgado@thecrimson.com

TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Men’s Cross Country There will be a lot of work to do in preparation but it’s going to be really good getting some momentum for the rest of the season.

most crucial at bat of the entire inning.

With Mrowka on, the bases were juiced once again. This time, it was senior first baseman Patrick McColl who took the plate. McColl was the leading hitter in the entire Ivy League at the time (as of May 18) he is the second-leading hitter in the Ancient Eight and the thirteenth in the entire nation).

And he was not ready to slow down.

As the Crimson watched in awe from the dugout, McColl crushed a grand slam over the right-centerfield fence to propel Harvard to a walk-off 10-8 victory.

“That was definitely the greatest thing that I’ve experienced in a Harvard Crimson uniform,” commented Owolo, who was at a loss for words. “Nobody really could have scripted that. It was insane.”

The team rushed out of the dugout in euphoria to mob their savior at the plate.

One would almost forget that there was

Women’s Cross Country

2 Number of first place races for the team this fall season

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I think that there are definitely a few more pieces of the puzzle to fall into the fold that will come along.

ELIANNA SHWAYDER Captain

*Place at Western New England Invitational

3 Runners Sent to Compete in the 2018 NCAA Championships in Madison, Wisc.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Coach of the Year Tjerk van Herwaarden, Field Hockey

Off to the Horses

By JAMES JOYCE CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF GIL TALBOT/HARVARD ATHLETICS

T

he training room saw Kathleen Young’s tears twice that day.

The first cry was one of agony: the Harvard forward, a junior who was emerging as the team’s top scorer, had just gotten her season cut short by a devastating injury to her ACL. If her first bout of tears was produced by pain, however, the second was induced by laughter, a vital act of repair to reverse that somber fit of despair.

You see, on field hockey, Crimson coach Tjerk van Herwaarden is Cambridge’s gametime guru: by the age of twenty-eight, he was the youngest assistant coach in the Netherlands’ premier field hockey league; over seven seasons at the University of Maryland, he won five national championships; and during this past season at Harvard, he brought the team to its highest national ranking in history. But on horseracing, along with the oft-times perplexing patois that is spoken by its followers, van Herwaarden still has a ways to go.

“Last year, Coach had this new phrase that he would say – he’d go you’ll be off to the horses in no time,” Young said. “The first time he said it, we all looked around at each other, baffled, before realizing that he was combining get on your horse and off to the races. He kept mixing those

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up that year and no one corrected him.”

“I kept saying it every now and again – I’m pretty sure the team thought I was saying it every week, but I don’t think it could’ve been that much,” countered van Herwaarden, his recounting of the story inundated with the occasional chuckle. “But, of course, nobody felt the need to correct me.”

“Finally, the day I got hurt, he comes running into the training room,” Young said. “We were all very sad – I’m crying – and he comes in and goes ‘Hey, you’ll be off to the horses in no time!’ That’s when I just lost it. I was crying so hard that tears were running down my face.”

“That’s when Kathleen tells me that I’ve been saying it wrong this entire time,” van Herwaarden said. “It amazes me that it lasted as long as it did, but I think that moment was much needed comic relief.”

“But it didn’t stop there,” Young said.

“At the end of the every year, the freshmen paint a brick in our locker room for the outgoing seniors that tell the story of that year. Last year, they painted the brick with the phrase off to the horses – now, it’ll be there forever and he has to explain it to all the recruits.”

It’s that comedic nature, that ability to “create laughter when the team really needs it,” as Young puts it, that allowed

van Herwaarden to lead his team to a record-breaking seventeen wins this season – the most in Harvard field hockey history – and earn The Crimson’s title of Coach of the Year. *** “I’m still very excited about this season,” said van Herwaarden of the most successful run the team has ever had.

“We lost some key players, so we had to look for people to rise to the challenge. I actually think that our first game this season – even though we lost to Maryland – showed us just how much potential this group had.”

Though their November matchup against the No. 3 Terps went down as a loss, Harvard had little to regret. Not only did freshman Ellie Shahbo make ten saves, but it was after this game that the Crimson launched a fourteen-game win streak, the longest in their history.

Over that time period, Harvard accumulated four hat tricks – also a record – and clawed their way up to 6th in the country.

Though women in crimson were the ones scoring shots and securing saves, they attribute much of their success to Coach van Herwaarden himself.

“He’s responsible for a great deal of [our success],” Young said. “I mean, he’s

an expert in field hockey. He really knows the game, but he also brings that passion and enthusiasm not just for the game, but for us.”

Though van Herwaarden’s attitude has remained steadfast over his seven seasons as head coach, his situation most certainly has not.

“My first couple of years here were quite different than the past two,” van Herwaarden said. “I knew it’d be a challenge to take over a program that was ranked 63rd in the country, and I think that first two or three years were very tough – I was still searching for what this program would be. But as more work was put into [the team], slowly but surely, you could see us moving up from 60th to 50th, 50th to 40th, and then to the Top 15 and now the Top 10.”

Once van Herwaarden had led Harvard field hockey to the national stage, he set his sights on taking down the most notorious gang in the Ivy League: the Princeton Tigers. As of a few years ago, the last time the Crimson had successfully hunted the Tigers was 1994. That all changed when Young began her crusade in crimson.

“One of the things that sticks out in my mind is Kathleen Young’s goal two years ago against Princeton,” van Her-

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

waarden said. “It was the first time this program beat Princeton in twenty-two years, which is pretty big. During that first year, we had seniors that had never beaten Columbia or Dartmouth or Yale in their four years. Now, the seniors that are graduating have never lost to Columbia or Dartmouth or Brown, and to incorporate Princeton into that nexus is crazy.”

Over van Herwaarden’s last three seasons, Harvard has lost only a single regular season Ancient Eight matchup, a feat that would have been incomprehensible just five ago. His teams credit that triumph with their coach’s penchant for independence.

“I think he once said that his ideal scenario would be getting the team to a point where he can just step back and watch us play,” Young said. “His style is really all about letting us make our own choices and making the game our own.”

However, for van Herwaarden, the field hockey season isn’t solely about sport. To him, the squad is a system of support before anything else.

“I love the quote out of everything really important in life, sport is the least important, and of all the not-so-important things in life, sport is the most important,” van Herwaarden said. “One of the main objectives of this team is being a support system for everyone that’s a part of it and has to deal with everything that comes with Harvard. But when we step on that field, we want to be the best we can be.”

The turf isn’t the only terrain on which the Crimson excel. To van Herwaaden, progress in the classroom is just as, if not more, important than on-the-field success. “[The players] come to Harvard because of the academics, and that should be their number one priority,” van Herwaarden said. “My program is dependent on making sure that everyone comes to practice every single time, and to do that we need to make sure that each student-athlete can be successful at Harvard. That’s why every year, we have an open discussion with the team about what our goals should be – we always have the athletic goals like winning a championship, but the team also chose to put having an improved team GPA as a goal as well.”

“I remember he had a meeting with all of us as freshmen where he just asked us how our freshman year was going, if we were making friends, if we were having fun in Annenberg, if we had enough time to get our studies done,” Young said. “I

think it’s that holistic approach to coaching the team that makes him special.”

According to van Herwaarden, teaching the fundamentals of field hockey – the driving, the blocking, the dragging – is the easy part.

It’s fostering those bonds between team members and creating a community of belonging that are essential to the success of the record-setters in Crimson, a group led by the one-and-only Coach Tjerk. *** If there’s one word that Kathleen Young uses over and over again to describe her feelings toward van Herwaarden, it’s grateful.

“By taking a chance on us as recruits,

he really changes our lives,” Young said.

“I mean, he allows us to come play the game we love for the best institution in the world.

I think that’s really special, and we’re all grateful for that. No one if more deserving of winning [The Crimson’s Coach of the Year] than him.”

However, van Herwaarden has a peculiar way of speaking about his successes.

Every time I brought up any of his victories – his record-breaking season, his ability to create a prosperous work-life balance, his expertise in doing what he loves – he turned his achievements into the accomplishments of his team members.

“I just really enjoy working with the Harvard student-athletes,” van Herwaarden said. “I think they really are

TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA- CRIMSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

a special breed of people and it makes working with them such a gift. I definitely don’t think we’re done here at Harvard – there’s still room to grow, so I definitely see my future at Harvard for the upcoming years.”

If one thing has remained constant in van Herwaarden’s life, it’s that he’s always improving.

From 60th to 50th, 50th to 40th, and then to the Top 15 and now the Top 10, it seems that the coach has conquered every team, winning every victory imaginable.

But as van Herwaarden puts it, there are “always more games to win” – after all, Coach Tjerk will be off to the horses in no time. james.joyce@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Aaron Amok

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CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

t the conclusion of Harvard football’s 2017 campaign, then-junior Charlie Booker III looked to the be the clear choice for the running back spot in the fall. The stalwart back had been nothing but solid all year long, adding 2017 firstteam All Ivy honors to his resume to close out the season.

Throughout the offseason, questions were posed to Crimson coach Tim Murphy about the 2018 team’s abilities with an entirely new linebacking core, about who would win quarterback spot, but never the who would be taking that quarterback’s gives. Then 2018 came and it wasn’t Booker in the backfield. Instead, with the afternoon sun glinting off the helmets in Harvard Stadium in its inaugural matchup against a competent San Diego team, number 20 assumed the position to the right of sophomore quarterback Jake Smith.

Sophomore running back Aaron Shampklin had seen action in his freshman season, but had been virtually ignored by the media in favor of his then-junior counterpart, Booker. In 2017, Shampklin sprinted for 363 yards and three touchdowns, enough to average 4.5 yards per give. Against San Diego, the Crimson went first to the air with Smith missing senior wideout Adam Scott. The next play went to Shampklin, who took the give on a career-long, 64-yard chase across the better part of the field for a touchdown.

San Diego was highly touted entering the match, which Shampklin turned into a track meet. In the first quarter alone, the sophomore touched the ball twice more. Each time, he scored, matching his three-career touchdowns from 2017 in

Men’s Lacrosse

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Aaron Shampklin, Football

less than 15 minutes of play. By the conclusion of the tilt, Shampklin boasted four scores and 178 yards to his name, the beginning of a year which would see consistent success in the Harvard backfield, essential to the team’s overall success. In one game, he was already the topic of conversation amongst Ivy League opponents.

“I don’t know if you guys watched last week but [Shampklin] ran for 178 yards and four touchdowns,” Brown coach Phil Estes said. “He was running like he was running through butter against San Diego.”

It’s the nature of Shampklin’s position in the Crimson offense that makes his success all the more impressive. The sophomore was not so much the starting running back as one of a four-part group which consistently wreaked havoc on the defenses of the Ivy League.

In additional to Shampklin and Booker — who re-entered the fray several games into the season after nursing an injury — sophomores Devin Darrington and B.J. Watson also saw significant action in the backfield. The trio of sophomores, dubbed a three-headed monster, rotated in and out of play amongst each other.

In the inaugural San Diego match, Darrington managed 48 yards and a touchdown despite Shampklin’s prior success during the same match. After that game, Murphy spoke on the duo.

“We call [Darrington and Shampklin] thunderbolt and lightfoot,” Murphy said.

Thunderbolt for Darrington’s habit of borrowing over defenders and lightfoot for Shampklin’s proclivity for avoiding them altogether. The duo shared more than success in the 2018 season; they were roommates in Adams House.

“Teams have to game-plan for both of us,” Shampklin said of he and his roommate. “And then we also have a lot of other

By CADE PALMER

TEAM RECAPS

Male Breakout Athlete of the Year

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Our senior class is sad to have our careers end, but we feel good about the impact we’ve had on the program overall.

JONATHAN BUTLER Senior captain *Place in Ivy League

great running backs in the backfield that you guys haven’t even seen yet, so once they come out there, teams are really going to have to game-plan against that.”

Despite shared time with three other backs, Shampklin rose quickly to the top of the league. By the conclusion of the season, the sophomore led in total rushing yards — and it wasn’t even close. Tallying 1,053 yards, Shampklin eclipsed the next closest runner, Karekin Brooks of Penn, by 155 yards. The Harvard sophomore also led the league in average rushing yards per game with 105.3 at the conclusion of the 2018 campaign.

When the offensive and defensive Ivy League honors were announced in November, 27 student-athletes topped the list in the first-team spots — 20 seniors, six juniors, and a single sophomore. There was little surprise that the second-year was the Crimson back. In addition to ebbing competence on the field, anoth-

er personality trait of Shampklin’s shines through in the post-game press conferences: humility. In Harvard’s 24-28 loss to Cornell in the middle of the season, Shampklin was perhaps the only thing that went right. The sophomore tallied a career-best 191 yards on 27 carries. If one had, by chance, fallen asleep in their seat, missing the contest but making the press conference, they would be excused for thinking the game had gone poorly for the sophomore. He spoke only briefly during the ensuing interviews.

“We just have to think about coming out a little better, doing a little better myself running the ball, making some people miss this week so [we can] put some more points on the board,” Shampklin said.

No one in the Ivy League could meet the standard Shampklin set for himself and do better. None even came close. cade.palmer@thecrimson.com

TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Overall record

2.58 Goals per game average of Kyle Anderson, sixth in Ivy League

Women’s Lacrosse

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Overall it was a great season with an awesome group of girls and coaches.

MARLEY JENKINS Senior captain

*Place in Ivy League

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Overall record

49 Goals scored by Keeley MacAfee

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Female Breakout Athlete of the Year Elizabeth Wang, Women’s Golf

By KOSTAS TINGOS

O

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

nly a small number of collegiate golfers get the chance to win their conference championship over their four-year career. Even fewer of them are crowned individual champions of that conference.

However, this year Harvard golfer Elizabeth Wang accomplished both of those feats…as a freshman.

Even before Wang arrived on campus, the coaching staff was excited to have her.

The San Marino, Calif. native had undeniable talent, but there was certainly more to who she was than just her golf game.

“We knew she was a super standout player. But we also knew what kind of person she was, both from hearing from other people and eventually, when we were allowed to meet with her, getting to know her [personally],” said Crimson head coach Kevin Rhoads. “She’s a special person. She’s a standout person in addition to a standout player.”

Wang’s mindset and attitude are what set her apart.

Not only is she a positive and supportive person, but her fierce desire to improve was immediately noticed by her coaches and teammates.

“As you know talent by itself doesn’t do all that much. If you get talent mixed with a burning desire to keep on trying to get better all the time, [that’s special],” Rhoads said. “She’s put in more extra work outside of practice than about anyone we’ve ever had. When that comes from one of the most talented players with that huge work ethic, obviously good things are going to happen.”

Good things certainly did happen.

Wang’s 72.92 stroke average through 13 rounds of golf led the way for Harvard.

She also was the only one in the group to

card two scores in the 60’s.

This translated to strong, consistent play almost every time she hit the links. One memorable performance was the Matchplay Madness event hosted in Princeton, N.J. In this tournament the athletes competed in head-to-head matchups against individuals from other schools.

Wang momentarily swapped her clubs for a broom, sweeping all three of her matchups to go unbeaten for the weekend.

Her strongest performance undoubtedly came at the Ivy League Championship. The Crimson got off to a sluggish start as a team, well back of the lead. However, the group would soon shake this off and begin an impressive comeback.

It all culminated in a scorching hot final round score of 290 for Harvard. This was enough to give the Crimson its eighth Ivy League title in program history. Wang immediately pointed to this as a highlight of her season.

“When we won Ivies [was probably my favorite moment of the year],” Wang said.

“Mainly because we were coming from behind on the last day and we all shot really well and were able to pull it through.

It was really great to be able to celebrate with the whole team. We actually placed on top after that day and it was a great feeling to see our team do well and celebrate all of our accomplishments.”

Every team member shot well, but Wang’s final round score of 69 was tops for the squad and for the tournament as a whole.

This was also enough to catapult her to the top of the individual leaderboard, making her the Ivy League Individual Champion.

“She did it when we needed her to do it and when she really wanted to do it, and not everyone can do that,” Rhoads said.

“That’s really special and I think that’s

Freshman Phenom pretty emblematic of who she is and what she does.”

According to Wang, her talent and work ethic are not the only factors that have contributed to her breakout year. Despite golf being very much an individual sport, there is a big emphasis on the team has a whole in college, especially at Harvard.

This community has been incredible for Wang in her first year.

“I think that the support group with the team that I had [was key],” Wang said.

Skiing

You had to be very aware of where you were on the course and the way the current was going, so that you could sail in the proper current.

The sport is really hard, so it’s only fun if you’re doing it with people you really like spending time with.

EMMA JAKOBSON Sophomore

Number of sailors named to the Coed All-NEISA team

kostas.tingos@thecrimson.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID DERMER/HARVARD ATHLETICS

Sailing

4

“They were amazing, they were very supportive, and it was really nice to be able to work with them, and to do the best we all can.”

It must be scary for the rest of the Ivy League to think that Wang might still not be at her best.

She will have three more years to replicate and even surpass the feats from her freshman year.

LILY KOFFMAN Captain

2 Number of skiers who qualified for the NCAA Tournament

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Male Athlete of the Year Dean Farris, Men’s Swimming

ALL-AMERICAN PHOTO COURTESY OF HARVARD ATHLETICS

By WILL CONNAUGHTON

I

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

On the first leg of the first event of the first day of the 2019 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships — in front of a packed crowd in Austin, Texas — junior Dean Farris broke the NCAA and American record in the 200 yard freestyle, swimming the leg in a blistering 1:29.15.

“It felt pretty surreal,” said Farris on breaking the record. “I’ve worked really hard this year and having it pay off was really rewarding.”

This performance beat the NCAA record, edging out the previous record by .35 seconds, set in 2018 by Texas swimmer Townley Haas.

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Fellow Harvard swimmers Brennan Novak, Mahlon Reihman and Corban Rawls finished off the relay with a strong time of 6:11.73, breaking the all-time program record. The quartet was able to place seventh at NCAAs and was selected for All-NCAA honors.

As the NCAA tournament continued, the Atlanta native only furthered his dominant performance. Farris went on to win the 100 back and 100 freestyle, with times of 43.66 and 40.80 respectively.

The junior opted not to swim the 200 freestyle, even though he had set the NCAA record in the event in the relay earlier in the meet.

Nevertheless, as the dust cleared during the NCAA Championships, Farris

ended with two solo event wins, becoming the third Harvard swimmer to do so and the first since 1954.

In addition, he took home All-American Honors in three individual and two group events, along with two group Honorable Mention All-American Honors.

At the Ivy League Championships a few week prior, Farris had a similar dominant showing, winning three individual events and taking home Ivy League Championships co-high point scorer of the meet with teammate and captain Novak. In total, Farris as an individual or part of a relay broke eight Crimson records this year.

Farris has always been a talented swimmer. His freshman year, the Georgia

native was a NCAA All-American in the 200 freestyle, and broke four Ivy League Championship records. That same year, Farris was named the Male Rookie of the Year by The Harvard Crimson.

The following year, Farris received All-American honors in the 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke. The then-sophomore posted three top times in the nation and was Ivy League Championship co-high point scorer among many other incredible achievements. However, despite all of this success, this year was special for Farris.

“Dean obviously had very good freshman and sophomore years, but there was something this year where you could sense that he was going to fully break

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

through,” noted Novak on Farris’ season.

“He is incredibly focused on the small details of practice and taking care of his body. He sets extremely high goals for himself, and, given his talent and work ethic, it isn’t much of a surprise when he meets them.”

In short, in case it’s not clear, Farris is simply one of the fastest swimmers in the world. The Atlanta product has attributed his success to his coaches and training regime.

“I think just continuing to improve my training,” responded Farris when RECORD TIME

prompted about how he had so much success this year. “We have a great program at Harvard and we’re always pushing to get better.”

However, the rising senior’s impact goes well beyond simply breaking records left and right. His performance and dedication to the team has inspired his teammates.

“From a team perspective, having one of the fastest swimmers in the world training every day with us at practice obviously is a huge benefit to us,” said Novak on Farris’ impact on the team. “He push-

es people in practice and sets high goals for the team as well. He’s definitely one of the main reasons why our focus over the past couple of years has shifted from Ivy League Championships to the national level.”

The results don’t lie. With a 8-1 record, a dominant Ivy League Championship win, and an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, Harvard men’s swimming and diving is a force to contend with around the country.

Since head coach Kevin Tyrrell has taken over, the program is 39-1 within

the Ivy League with three straight Ivy League Championships under their belts.

Looking forward, Farris will continue working and improving this summer.

As a senior, he has high goals and expectations. Farris will have opportunities throughout next year to prove himself on the national stage heading into the 2020 Olympic trials next summer. His story will be one to watch next year, as he looks to become the first Harvard swimmer since 2012 to reach the Olympics. william.connaughton@thecrimson.com

Farris will look to build on his success this year heading into the Olympic trials next summer. PHOTO COURTESY OF SIDELINE PHOTOS/THE IVY LEAGUE

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

SAY Niki Smith (pictured left), Andrew Bolze (center), and Claire Rushin (right) pose in front of the Widener CHEERS Steps. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW BOLZE

Thesis in Hand

By HENRY ZHU

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

A

sk any undergraduate department chair, and he or she would most likely state that the crown jewel of the Harvard academic experience is the senior honors thesis.

Students who commit to this process are asked to dedicate much of their final year delving into original research, ultimately producing a paper typically ranging from 50-to-150 pages on a topic of interest related to their concentration.

An emblematic part of the Harvard experience, “thesis-ing” or “buried in Lamont” are phrases that quickly emerge in the Harvard student vernacular during the turnaround from senior fall to senior spring. Although still taking classes and finishing up concentration requirements, this project by in-large becomes the pri-

TEAM RECAPS

mary focus of these students from early September to early March.

But for a select group of students on campus, there is another large commitment that they must concurrently accommodate: playing a Division I sport at a high level in what is most likely the final season of competitive athletics in their lives. The culmination of both the undergraduate academic and athletic experience has been both a challenging and rewarding experience for the five Crimson student-athletes interviewed. With strong support systems on “both sides of the river”, these seniors believe more student-athletes can pursue a thesis while continuing to excel on the field.

For many student-athletes, the peak season for their respective sport also

Men’s Water Polo

*

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Over the past few years we’ve had a strong connection between teammates; we’ve had great team camaraderie.

AUSTIN SECHREST Co-captain

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*National Rank in CWPA

comes during the final stages in the thesis writing project. Here, the two worlds literally intersect at the same time, requiring critical time-management and balancing skills. These demands are not foreign to senior student-athletes — who have already experienced eight semesters of “the grind”— but the added stress of this seminal research project necessitates even more diligence and flexibility.

“I would be on six-hour bus rides with no Wi-Fi trying to get research done that’s not always easy,” said Claire Rushin, a women’s lacrosse team member and Human Evolutionary Biology concentrator.

“It took a lot of planning in advance. So if I knew I was traveling, I would have to get all the research done ahead of time so that I could just write on the cramped corners

Overall record

36 Steals by senior Nathan Ondracek

Women’s Water Polo

16*

of a bus.”

In addition to the lacrosse season, basketball’s busiest time came around March during Ivy postseason play. For men’s basketball forward Balsa Dragović (whose thesis in History and Science was due Mar. 8), this meant working on the paper in any setting possible.

“I tried to use every second of free time, if that was a hotel room, bus, or airport,” Dragović said. “My teammates know, they kind of made fun of me.”

For those student-athletes whose research required a physical presence in a laboratory or library, mutual understanding among coaches and professors was critical to finding the right times for conducting research. Although taking advantage of the summer offseason months

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8

Practice is practice, but when you’re there, you just play.

So hopefully things fall into place and we remeber the little things from practice.

KRISTEN HONG Senior *National Rank in CWPA

Overall record

48 Assists made by Junior attacker Sofia Carrera-Justiz

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

was invaluable, semester-time research often meant going into lab at times when many students were asleep.

“I had to be strategic with my time,” said Andrew Bolze, another Human Evolutionary Biology concentrator. “Over the summer when training was over, I definitely focused on getting most of the lab work done so I could do most of the data analysis on my own through to the wee hours of the night. I would say I was extremely lucky when I had a very mindful coach, someone that brings me a lot of flexibility and an advisor that cares about my time commitments.”

Edwin Owolo, a Harvard Baseball team member who conducted research in Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Catherine Dulac’s lab, echoed similar sentiments.

“I would like to thank my coaches for being very understanding with classes and everything throughout my four years,” Owolo said. “That’s one thing that’s very good about the baseball program — Coach Decker and our assistant coaches, they’re very flexible...You definitely have to work at some odd hours in lab to get the thesis done, definitely some late nights in BioLabs. But overall, great experience.”

Outside of professional mentors, the fellow student-athlete community provided important support and guidance in navigating the challenges of the dual student/athlete demands.

While some like Rushin were the first team member in her time at Harvard to pursue a thesis, others were able to draw both on current and past teammates for assistance. For Owolo, ex-teammate and engineering concentrator Matt Mink set an important precedent for completing the thesis.

“I already knew what was ahead for me, because he was doing some things at some very odd hours,” Owolo said. “[He was] borrowing my bicycle some times so he could get all the way down to the SEAS building...but knowing that he could do it

Wrestling

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showed me that I can do it.”

Two of the student-athletes interviewed had projects that directly tied into the experience of playing sports, allowing for another valuable base in which to draw inspiration and suggestions. Bolze’s work, for example, analyzed the microbiome of long-distance runners.

“It was exciting and pretty fun to take that experience from track and somewhat apply it to my research over on the other side of the river,” Bolze said. “...Being able to just discuss the results and other possible implications with my [endurance-running] teammates was pretty fun. They definitely allowed me to change up my perspective at times and gave me insight into what I was looking at.”

Ultimately, this collective experience was a true team effort with advisors, coaches, and fellow teammates all providing distinct support. But the final, completed product was something that each student-athlete took pride in as the paragon of their total experience on campus.

“Proving to myself that I had this goal to write a thesis and I could do it well while also being a rugby player and doing other things was very rewarding by the end,” said Akweley “Q” Okine, who similarly did a sports-related project through understanding how athletic participation can serve as an intervening mechanism in the school-to-prison pipeline.

“Thinking about writing a thesis in the future can be a scary topic, especially when you know you’re an athlete and that you know you’re going to have that time chunk cut out from the thesis process,” Rushin added. “But I would say absolutely, hundred percent, write one. It is a fantastic experience, not just in scientific discovery, but also in learning about yourself. I think that you learn a lot about what you can handle and what excites you. It’s just such a piece of work to be proud of.”

Dragović noted that non-student athletes involved with other large extracurricular activities also go through a sim-

2

I think if I wrestle with confidence, there are not many people out there who should be able to stop me.

LUKUS STRICKER Sophomore

*Place in Ivy League

9

ilar experience in writing their theses, but in many ways the intangibles learned through basketball such as perseverance did help him complete this project.

“So much of my strength, the biggest project that I’ve done my entire life,” Dragović added. “When I finished it was a big relief. I remember that aside from basketball, I’ve never been that tired in my whole life after the last day. Now looking back, it was definitely rewarding. It is something you created, you worked so many hours, so many readings, so many revisions, so many meetings.”

Through these trials and tribulations, all of the student-athletes interviewed strongly recommended their fellow younger teammates consider devoting time to pursue a thesis.

Despite the challenges in terms of scheduling and flexibility, those like Okine believed it is the collective investment that matter in terms of encouraging greater percentages of student-athletes to write theses.

“A lot of the reason why student-ath-

National GPA ranking as a team

For a more detailed look at each student-athlete’s thesis topic, read our online issue. henry.zhu@thecrimson.com

PUPPED Edwin Owolo, an infielder for Harvard Baseball, wrote his thesis on PAG activity UP in young mice. PHOTO COURTESY OF EDWIN OWOLO

Women’s Rugby

Overall record

3

letes might not write theses is because of general flexibility,” Okine said. “...Having their coaches being accommodating to having to miss things occasionally while also having professors make a vested effort to make student-athletes feel like they can write a thesis and that it’s worth it. I think in some concentrations athletes are kind of glossed over or not really taken seriously which is kind of a bummer.”

Although there still appears to be room for improvement, the student-athletes overall believed their experience can be a model for future seniors in their position and contemplating taking the first steps in the process.

“I wouldn’t even hesitate to write 10 more theses,” Rushin concluded. “It was a great experience for me.”

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*

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I knew she had burned me a couple of times before, but I had it in my head that she wasn’t gonna get past me that time.

ARIANNI ROMERO Sophomore *Place in Ivy League Tournament

4

Overall record

100 Number of team-wide tries for the year

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Female Athlete of the Year Lindsay Reed, Women’s Hockey

EYES ON THE PRIZE

The Puck Stops Here

By WILLIAM BOGGS

W

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

ith just 1.8 seconds remaining in the first quarter of the Ivy League Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinal at the Palestra, the Crimson held possession of the ball at its own baseline. Sophomore forward Robert Baker hurled a football pass over to classmate Chris Lewis, who, with his back facing the basket, snatched the ball over Cornell junior Jack Gordon’s outstretched arms and tossed the ball over to its final recipient. Standing at the “Y” of the midcourt IVY logo, 40 feet away from the basket with milliseconds left on the clock, sophomore guard Christian Juzang calmly swished in the buzzer-beater.

Goaltender Lindsay Reed may only be a freshman, but she played the past season as if she had years of experience at the Division I level. In her rookie campaign, she took the ECAC by storm, setting the program single-season saves record (927) and stifling 30-plus shots in 17 of 27 appearances.

At the end of the season, she earned multiple honors, including First Team All-Ivy, ECAC All-Rookie Team, Second Team All-ECAC, and ECAC Goalie of the Year Finalist. At the national level, she made a major impact as well. Among all Division I goalies, she tied for third in the nation in save percentage at 0.940, deadlocked with redshirt junior Kristen Campbell of the eventual national champion Wisconsin Badgers. Moreover, Reed was within just 0.004 of the number-one spot, which belonged to Terra Lanteigne of Rochester Institute of Technology.

“To have this honor [the top-three save percentage] my first year, it’s a huge

TEAM RECAPS

Facing a combined 986-shot barrage in her 27 appearances, Reed had to stay laser-focused over the course of any game.

QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

privilege, and I’m extremely proud of it, but I can’t wait to see where we go from here,” Reed said.

While sharp technique and physical tools played a huge role in her success this season, women’s ice hockey coach Katey Stone reflected that Reed’s mindset contributed a critical edge to her game.

“Lindsay’s an incredible competitor,” Stone said. “We’ve had awesome goaltenders in the past, and what separates them from others is their just incredible focus, and competitiveness, and preparation.

We knew what we were getting when we were in the recruiting process, [but] I didn’t anticipate she would have the kind of year she had this year.”

What’s more, Reed seemed to relish

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With the bar set so high from the past year, a unique challenge for Reed will be continuing to improve. With that in mind, she is committed to attention to detail over the summer. “[The focus will be] working on my office training, watching video, reworking my angles, and becoming more explosive off the ice so that it can translate on the ice,” Reed said. “Obviously, I don’t want to plateau or anything. I want to keep getting better.”

In addition to refining physical technique, Reed knows that continuing to hone the mental game will be another offseason key.

“I think I’m pretty level-headed when it comes to the big games,” Reed said.

Women’s Golf

Men’s Golf

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Coming back we’re reflecting on some of the things we did well this year, some of the things we can improve upon, and some strategies going into the next year.

RIJ PATEL Junior

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the big-game atmosphere, wanting the opponent to throw the kitchen sink at the net. Regularly facing 40-plus shots, she welcomed the challenge.

“Honestly, it’s fun,” Reed said. “That’s really what it comes down to...Knowing that these teams are coming in, and they’re going to take 50 shots, to see them get frustrated and not scoring, in the end, that’s just fun.”

Indeed, this mentality proved crucial in many games, but especially during the Beanpot tournament. Over the course of the two games--an upset victory over Boston College in the semifinals and an overtime loss to Boston University in the championship -- Reed totaled 103 saves while surrendering only four goals.

*Place at Ivy League Championships

33 Pars by Grant Fairbairn at the Ivy League Championships

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It’s a huge honor [to compete at NCAA Regionals]. We love being able to play in it, and we don’t always get to and it’s not always a guarantee.

MICHELLE XIE Senior *Place at Ivy League Championships

901 Harvard’s Total Team Score to Win the Ivy League Tournament

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

PADDLE DOWN

Reed seals off the post as an opponent tries to edge the defender for a net drive attempt. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

“But then, when it gets down to the wire, I think, personally, staying calm and collected will really help improve my game.”

With her numbers this season, Reed attracted the attention not just of opponents, but also of USA Hockey. Reed has appeared for the national team before, earning gold medals at the world championships on the U18 national team in 2017 and 2018, so her play this year only reinforced her position wearing the stars and stripes.

In May, she attended the Women’s National Team Goaltending Camp in Plym-

Men’s Ice Hockey

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[Lackey is] really trusting his defensemen, he’s not cheating the play, not anticipating the pass and cheating away and giving up short-side goals.

BRIAN ROBINSON Goaltending Coach *Place in ECAC

outh, Mich., earning one of 12 selections to a roster that included 2018 Olympic gold medalists and 2019 world champions. Notably, Reed was not the only Harvard goalie selected, as junior Beth Larcom was also chosen among the 12, showcasing the Crimson’s depth at the position.

“She [Reed] deserves it — simply,” Stone said. “If she hadn’t been selected, I’d be concerned because of the kind of year she’s had. The numbers speak for themselves.”

Undoubtedly, competing at the inter-

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Overall record

48 Season Points for Defenseman Adam Fox, who signed a professional contract with the New York Rangers at the end of the season

national level has already given Reed invaluable experience that has boosted her Harvard career. This camp was no different in the unique opportunity that it offered.

“This weekend’s really cool, and it’s a huge honor to be a part of this group,” Reed said. “I’m with the Olympians and people who have been on the national team; to be the young one learning from them is awesome.”

For the Crimson women’s team as a whole, after gaining significant momentum with a February win streak and a

Women’s Ice Hockey

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Obviously, when the opportunity arises, we want to score, but it’s really important that our defense doesn’t pitch on the forecheck.

KAT HUGHES Junior Forward

*Place in ECAC

Beanpot title game appearance, expectations should be high. A strong core of rising sophomores and rising juniors will return, complementing a talented incoming recruiting class, not to mention that Reed should backstop the program for another three years.

“We’re excited about the future of our program,” Stone said. “We’ve got some great character kids in our program.

We’ve [just] got to put it together, and we’ve got to stay healthy.” william.boggs@thecrimson.com

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Overall record

.940 Save Percentage for Freshman Goalie Lindsay Reed

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

10 Years Later

By LEV COHEN AND HENRY ZHU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

An analysis of 787 athletes who were on the rosters of 39 Harvard teams in the 2008-09 season showed that a plurality, 20.5 percent, now work in financial services, tracking closely with the 23 percent of the Class of 2009 that, according to the Office of Career Services, reported having accepted a job in financial services after graduation. This data provides a snapshot into the professional lives of Crimson athletes 10 years later and neither predicts what the Harvard athletes will do in the future nor accounts for what they did in the years immediately following graduation.

The present occupations and educational attainment statuses were obtained through online searches from the Harvard alumni database as well as LinkedIn/ Internet resources. 113 individuals were not found in our query and were subsequently excluded from the data.

Many of the differences between the senior survey data from 2009, which represented students’ plans for post-graduation but not for the long-term, and the current occupations of ex-athletes can be attributed to the decade-long gap. 12 percent of ‘09 seniors reported accepting a job in consulting, a popular short-term postgraduation occupation but not necessarily a long-term one. 10 years later, 5.6 percent of Crimson athletes work in consulting, placing the profession in the middle of the pack. A similar phenomenon can be seen in education, which also accounts for 5.6 percent of Harvard athletes, down from the 16 percent of ‘09 seniors who reported taking a job in education after graduation.

Meanwhile, the proportion of athletes in communication, business outside of financial services, and information technology is right in line with the 2009 senior survey data.

As may have been expected, the biggest discrepancy in job plans between the Class of 2009 and ‘08-09 athletes is in the sports, hospitality, and recreation industries. Just one percent of seniors reported having accepted a job in that category, while 5.3 percent of ex-Crimson athletes now work in the industry in a variety of roles in the sector, from coaching and fitness training to work in sports or hotel management.

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There are not as many former athletes working for a non-profit agency or NGO as would have been predicted by the 2009 senior class survey. Just three men (less than one percent) and nine women (2.7 percent) are recorded as currently working for a non-profit, down from five percent of seniors who reported that they were taking a job with a non-profit out of college. Those in education or government/military professions were accounted for separately.

Financial services is the most popular industry for male athletes, accounting for 27 percent of men’s players. Next is work for a technology and/or start-up company in a non-technical role, which makes up another 11.1 percent. For women, meanwhile, financial services and technology rank just third and tied for fourth respectively among current job categories.

A plurality of 17 percent of women’s athletes now work in health or medicine, which when including the men’s numbers is the second most popular career. A further 12.8 percent are pursuing degrees in graduate or professional school.

In an interview last October, OCS Director Robin Mount said that “about 83 percent of our students will go back to graduate or professional school.” Between seven and 10 years on from graduation, just 49.4 percent of athletes have obtained or are currently obtaining a post-college degree. While that number is likely to tick up in future years, it appears that—if Mount’s numbers are correct—athletes are less likely to go on to receive a degree in higher education than the average student.

AKHIL S. WAGHMARE—CRIMSON DESIGNER

The job preferences of athletes can be further broken down by sport. Financial services and health or medicine combine to be the most popular sectors of occupation for 24 of the 39 teams.

Financial services is the only profession to make up not just a plurality but a majority of jobs for any single sport, and it does so three times: for men’s tennis (54.5 percent), men’s hockey (53.8 percent), and men’s lacrosse (52.9 percent). In those three sports, a combined 25.4 percent of players have obtained or are currently obtaining a postgraduate degree, slightly over half the percentage of the overall group of athletes.

While a significant number of ‘08-09 Crimson athletes had at least brief careers

as professional athletes, just 11 — slightly over one percent — still are. Headlining that list are men’s basketball’s Jeremy Lin ‘10, who currently plays for the Toronto Raptors; men’s hockey’s Alex Killorn ‘12, a strong performer for the Tampa Bay Lightning; women’s hockey’s Randi Griffin ‘10, who scored the first goal for the historic Unified Korea women’s national team in the 2018 Winter Olympics; and baseball’s Brent Suter ‘12, a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers who became the fourth-ever ex-Harvard pitcher to reach 200 career Major League innings and the second since 1908. lev.cohen@thecrimson.com henry.zhu@thecrimson.com

AKHIL S. WAGHMARE—CRIMSON DESIGNER

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

A Hockey Life

By WILLIAM BOGGS

“W CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

hen I was two years old, I actually learned to skate on the ice at Harvard, so that’s where my memories actually started.”

When Harvard hockey alumni got together on Sunday mornings at BrightLandry Hockey Center, senior forward Bradley Fusco would be there. Her father, Scott Fusco ‘86, and his brother, Mark Fusco ‘83, rank among Harvard’s greatest players, with both earning the Hobey Baker Award — college hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman trophy — and appearing on professional and US Olympic teams. After the Sunday morning skates, children and families who tagged along would take some family time on the ice and learn to skate. In this setting, Bradley’s hockey career was born.

Throughout her childhood, Harvard hockey continued to play a major role even after she moved on from the learnto-skate to youth teams. Bright-Landry continued to be a mainstay in her childhood as she regularly attended both men’s and women’s teams’ games. See-

ing the women’s team in particular created a vision in her mind and gave her a goal for the future.

“When I was younger, my dad would take me to the women’s games as well, and especially when we could skate with the team afterward,” Bradley said. “And growing up, I had tons of role models on the Harvard women’s hockey team.”

Scott similarly pointed out the importance of the role models, recognizing the invaluable opportunity that they provided his daughter.

“I think she was really fortunate to have the ability to meet some of the players when she was younger, especially some of the women’s players,” Scott Fusco said. “That’s incredibly helpful for a young girl to have role models like that.

As you’re growing up in sports...you need to see people sort of just like you that are accomplishing great things.”

In addition to providing access and opportunities where Bradley could learn how to play, meet lifelong friends, and look up to Harvard players, Scott provided something else that few parents can: Division I, Olympic, and professional playing experience. With his wealth of knowledge about the game, he did have and offer plenty of technical ad-

TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

vice, but he usually made sure to keep his message very simple: have fun and work as hard as you can.

“We spent a lot of time obviously working on all the skills you need to be a player, but really it was more focused on fun,” said Scott. “The biggest piece of advice I gave Bradley is just to show up every day to practice and work hard—approach every practice like it’s a game— so that not only can you improve, but you give the coaches confidence that you can be successful.”

And Bradley seemed to take these words to heart. In her career, one thing that she always prided herself on was work ethic. Knowing that many things can be out of one’s control, she tried to control one of the things that was within reach and hoped that the result would be infectious.

“Every practice I would try to win every sprint, win every rep...and that was for my personal development, but, moreover, it was to help my teammates get better as well,” Bradley said. “If you see somebody next to you fighting their hardest, it makes them more willing for them to fight their hardest...And I hope that I left that imprint on my teammates so that they can help make their teammates better.”

Women’s ice hockey Coach Katey Stone took particular attention of the commitment.

“She did what we asked her to do.

She was always probably the most conditioned, most fit player we had,” Stone said. “She did everything she could off the ice to put herself in a great position, and she worked her tail off. She asked the right questions, and she understands the game, so she was always ‘on.’ When she came down to the rink, she was on a mission.”

In addition to the attitude of hard work, Bradley values a sense of gratitude. On one hand, it’s a sense of appreciation for the accomplishments of her family at Harvard that she is reminded of every time she peers into the rafters, where the Hobey Baker Award banner bears her family name—twice.

“My dad, and my mom, and my extended family put in a ton of time and hard work into developing me as a hock-

ey player and as a person,” Bradley said.

“So seeing their names up there kind of just was a constant reminder to be grateful and never take any second on that ice for granted.”

Indeed, Scott did echo that the rafters provide a unique honor.

“I think as years go by, you realize how difficult it is to win an award like that. It becomes even more special that Mark and I both were fortunate enough to win that award,” said Scott. “Being part of all that tradition is something I guess that means more the older you get.”

But the gratitude seems to extend further, becoming even a sense of duty also, tracing back to her childhood at the rink and the role models that she met there.

Realizing that she was given the distinctive opportunity to meet her role models in person, she hopes to inspire young girls like herself.

“One thing that I wanted to carry with me in my career was to give the little girls that come to our games as much as the Harvard hockey players gave me,” Bradley said. “There were times when I would be the only girl on my team when I was younger, so that dream [playing Division I] becomes a little bit distant...if you’re playing boys’ hockey.”

Completing a career can be a tough transition, especially when the team has constituted a major part of your life not just over the past four years but literally for as long as you can remember.

Certainly, some aspects are irreplaceable, but there is some consolation.

“Something so special about Harvard hockey is there’s a lot of tradition that comes with it—the Harvard hockey dinners are a huge event for alumni to come back,” Bradley said. “It makes graduating a little less painful and sad because you have something to look forward to.”

At these dinners, Bradley was able to reconnect with some of her role models and engage with them in a new way. Now that she has left her own legacy with Harvard hockey, however, future players very well may come up to her at the dinners to thank her for the impact she will have left on them. william.boggs@thecrimson.com

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Best Sports Photos of 2018-19 TIMOTHY R. O’ MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

TIMOTHY R. O’ MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER TIMOTHY R. O’ MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

QUINN G.G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER QUINN PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER TIMOTHY R. O’ MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019 TIMOTHY R. O’ MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

TIMOTHY R. O’ MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER TIMOTHY R. O’ MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

‘A BAD BOY’

TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA-CRIMSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

T

o reach the echelon of an elite Division I college basketball player, kids from their early teens must embrace a nomadic lifestyle. Long bus rides for high school games in the winter, nationwide AAU circuits in the spring, more AAU and camps in the summer.

By the time these student-athletes first step foot on campus, the concept of a “5-hour trip to Princeton” or “a cross-country flight for a three-game tournament” is no less foreign than a business trip would be for your standard corporate consultant.

But even by these parameters, listening to Harvard freshman Noah Kirkwood recount the logistics to even be in the same gym as quality basketball competition is staggering.

A lifelong native of Ottawa, Ontario, Kirkwood resided in the periphery of Canada’s main hotbed for basketball talent in Toronto. Although the Maples

Male Rookie of the Year Noah Kirkwood, Men’s Basketball

By HENRY ZHU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

TEAM RECAPS

Men’s Soccer

8

*

20

3

13

The younger players in the group have been a very important part of the team this year.

PAOLO BELLONI-URSO Sophomore midfielder

*Place in Ivy League

0

Leafs and hockey still hold a substantial grip in ‘The Six’, any casual observer need only look at the mobs of fans celebrating Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 buzzer-beater outside ScotiaBank Arena or take a gander at a college roster sheet to comprehend the pace by which hoops has grown in Toronto.

A five-hour drive north to the nation’s capital however, it is evident the hardwood is still a clear second fiddle to the ice for the younger generation.

“We have only had maybe in the past 20 years four or five guys play Division I [from Ottawa], and those are more in the later years,” Kirkwood said. “...So I didn’t have many people to look to, but I’d say mainly, it’s so hard for kids that play AAU basketball from Ottawa.”

For Kirkwood, his dreams of playing at a higher level meant even more hours on the road compared to his peers.

“So just to go play for a club team to play in the States, it’s a tall task,” Kirk-

Overall record

6.9 Shots per game taken by Harvard.

Women’s Soccer

4

*

wood said. “And so I played on a team from Montreal, Montreal is around three hours [from Ottawa]. But the thing about my situation was, I didn’t have to go to all the practices so that helped me a lot...

But I’m just saying for even a guy that was good enough to play basketball, it was still tough to be on a team, let alone guys that might not have that same skill set or drive and they just want to play. The odds already are kind of against you.”

Kirkwood’s journey to Cambridge, is thus, an unlikely one that carries the trace of thousands of miles on the road.

With his talents on the basketball court quickly outpacing what Ottawa could offer — he finished as the all-time leading scorer at his local Ashbury College High School — the 2017 Provincial MVP took his talents to Northfield Mount Hermon, a preparatory high school in western Massachusetts for a postgraduate season. There, the theme of international representation continued.

7

7

I knew I had a pretty good shot, and took it. It was great to put the team ahead in a game that meant so much to us.

ALLI WIGGINS Senior forward *Place in Ivy League

1

Overall record

7 Goals scored by senior midfielder Leah Mohammadi

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

“They’re living in a residential program, with 53 different countries represented 660 students,” NMH head coach John Carroll said. “They’re getting the boarding experience that they would have at a college program. As for basketball, we play more basketball than they do in the Ivy League and we play college rules and college-age guys.”

At the same time, Kirkwood continued to compete on the international stage, upsetting the United States at the U-19 FIBA World Championships in Egypt alongside current Crimson teammate Danilo Djuricic. He also earned silver at the FIBA Americas U-16 Championships in Argentina.

So after all of these stops criss-crossing North America and several other countries, what led him to Cambridge and ultimately deciding to don the crimson-andwhite?

Kirkwood attributes this partially to teammate and senior captain Corey Johnson, another rare product of Ottawa that traversed the AAU scene, represented Canada at the youth level, and also played a season for an American prep school (Vermont Academy) before joining Coach Tommy Amaker’s side.

“I was lucky enough to be recruited pretty early on in my high school career just because of my relationship with Corey Johnson,” Kirkwood said. “His family was very close knit, so he had knew about me because Ottawa basketball is very tight, very small. He’s seen me play numerous times and really got to know me as a player, all of my deficiencies, all of strengths.”

Prior to the season beginning at Northfield Mount Hermon in fall of 2017, Kirkwood committed to the Crimson. Harvard Basketball under Tommy Amaker has had a strong relationship with Coach Carroll’s program in the past decade, with only one season in Amaker’s reign where a NMH alum has not been featured on a Crimson roster. Following Kirkwood, Massachusetts Gatorade Player of

Men’s Squash

1

*

17

I think that demonstrates what the goal of today was: to not only win, but win with a statement and vengeance.

SAMUEL SCHERL Sophomore

*Place at National Championships

the Year Chris Ledlum is also set to make the transition from NMH to Cambridge next season.

“For Noah, seeing Laurent [Rivard] come here and be a two-time captain, seeing Evan Cummins come here, seeing Zena [Edosomwan] come here and have a successful career all of them winning Ivy championships, you know for placement and the Ivy League you know there this no one that can compete,” Carroll said.

Kirkwood’s short time at NMH was highlighted by a NEPSAC state championship as he began to face equivalent competition at the Division I level.

“I graduated four years from my old school and wasn’t sure where to go. The first time I talked to [Coach Carroll] I just knew right away, it was the right spot,” Kirkwood said. “...He’s always academic first and basketball second, and you always kind of emphasizes let basketball take you, use basketball as your opportunity and gateway to open up doors rather than the other way around. So going to Ivy League is kind of the the win-win for both situations.”

At the start of his first campaign, Kirkwood quickly proved to be a valuable offensive weapon for Coach Amaker, especially without former Ivy League Player of the Year Seth Towns and former Ivy League Rookie of the Year Bryce Aiken in action. Tallying 12 points in back-to-back contests against San Francisco and Saint Mary’s, the 6-foot-7 guard’s breakout game came against Holy Cross when he shot an impressive 7-for-8 from the field for 20 points. At that point, Kirkwood was already Amaker’s entrenched sixth man, seeing the most minutes off the bench.

“I’m very impressed but if I’m being very honest I’m not surprised,” said Amaker after the Holy Cross win. “This is what we think we were getting when we were able to get him to come here and decide to be at Harvard. He’s a pretty talented kid and has the ability with the ball for his size to change things because he can see over the top. But he’s pretty crafty

0

Overall record

26 Number of times that Harvard has won the Potter Cup (National Championship)

with his ability to drive and make plays.”

An aggressive slasher both in transition and in halfcourt, the freshman described his biggest transition as adjusting to the speed of the game in terms of decision-making. Cutting down on turnovers (Kirkwood accumulated 18 through his first six games) was an important area of improvement in non-conference play.

“Just way quicker guards that I’m used to, just the passes I make sometimes or how I dribble might be more lackadaisical,” said Kirkwood on his biggest adjustment. “But I feel now that when I’m playing with these guys you just can’t make those kind of plays.”

Before Ancient Eight play, the guard picked up his third Rookie of the Week honors after a 20-point outing over George Washington and a 19-point performance against Mercer in back-to-back victories. In what was becoming a crucial part of his game, the freshman drilled seven out of 14 triples in those two wins and would finish the season just shy of 40 percent from the arc.

Harvard finished above .500 in non-conference play, all of which was with lead offensive star Bryce Aiken in suit-and-tie attire on the Crimson bench.

A combination of illness and adjusting to Aiken’s return resulted in a cold stretch for Kirkwood, but his production gradually spiked upwards.

Draining four of five from deep in a 16-point contest at Princeton, Kirkwood had a career-night at Brown with 28 points, nine boards, and seven assists.

With Aiken back in the mix, Kirkwood adjusted by serving as a dangerous outlet on the wing as well as continuing to finding openings inside. Following that Princeton contest, Aiken jocularly called Kirkwood a “bad boy”.

“It’s just seeing a freshman get more confident in his play and getting more comfortable within the college game,” said Aiken on Feb.20. “Obviously he’s grown a huge amount from the season and he’s definitely starting to excel going

Women’s Squash

1

*

10

Everyone who wasn’t in the tournament,...all traveled to Brown to watch both of us play. It was just really amazing to share it with everyone.

GINA KENNEDY Junior

*Place at National Championships

into the closing part of the season...He’s not peaking yet, [but] he’s going to peak at the right time.”

An injury to junior guard Justin Bassey propelled Kirkwood into a starting role, a position he would maintain for the final eight out of nine games of the season. The guard scored in double figures in seven of those contests, including critical late shots down the stretch.

Meanwhile, the Ivy Rookie of the Week awards kept coming. By season’s end, the Ivy League had bestowed seven such honors enough to surpass a program record held by Siyani Chambers ‘1617 and Dan Clemente ‘01.

Aiken was nevertheless the central offensive piece late in the season, but Kirkwood’s important complementary role allowed him to finish the season with a 11.1 PPG average (second-highest on the team) and provided much-needed balance to the Crimson. Of no surprise, Kirkwood was named the Ivy Rookie of the Year. Even with these accomplishments, Kirkwood commented he still has much left to grow heading into his sophomore season.

“If I’m being honest, I felt like I underachieved some of the things to do in terms of what my expectations personally were,” Kirkwood said. “I know that sounds kind of poor because I just got Rookie of the Year. Thinking it like that I got to take a step back and say you did okay, you did pretty good, ‘Noah, relax a bit’.”

This “never-satisfied” mentality is inpart what has contributed to Kirkwood playing on increasingly competitive teams in increasingly bigger stages. As “the bad boy” from Ottawa prepares for Year Two, there is one destination that has been elusive for this Crimson team since 2015: the NCAA Tournament. Kirkwood, along with the rest of the team, will reload and prepare for that singular trip next March. henry.zhu@thecrimson.com

0

Overall record

5 Number of consecutive Howe Cups claimed by the team

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

SQUASH SUPREME

U

TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Team(s) of the Year Men’s/Women’s Squash

By LEV COHEN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

TEAM RECAPS

Men’s Basketball

1

*

22

19

12

I am lucky to have a family in Harvard Basketball.

WEISNER PEREZ Captain

*Place in Ivy League

tter dominance is nothing new for Harvard squash.

Coming into this year, the women’s team had captured four consecutive national championships and had not lost a match since January, 2015. And while the men were championship-less since 2013-14, they had finished second in the country to Trinity in

Overall record

Women’s Basketball

3 Number of overtime victories for Harvard this season.

back-to-back years. Clearly, expectations were sky-high coming into the year.

Not only did both squash teams meet those expectations, but they smashed them, as both went undefeated and cruised to national championships.

Somehow, the women bested their 15-0 season from a year ago by finishing the season without relinquishing a single team point.

The Crimson tore through its opposition, tallying 13 consecutive 9-0 victories en route to the 20th Howe Cup in program history and the seventh in head coach Mike Way’s nine-year Harvard tenure.

“The motivation definitely comes from each each other,” co-captain Sophie Mehta said. “Even though squash is an individual sport, when you’re playing for a team, you always want to give one hundred percent and try your best because you know your teammates are doing the same. So much work goes into winning a national title and it was great to bring both the men’s and women’s titles home this year.”

The championship game, which locked up a sweep for Way, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams, came at Trinity against the Bantams and ended fittingly.

All but two of the nine individual games ended 3-0 as the Crimson cruised past Trinity.

“I think we set ourselves apart by being more physically and mentally prepared for each match,” Mehta said. “Winning every individual game was something that we tried not to think about, especially towards the end of the season.

We tried to focus on what we could control.”

Harvard was undoubtedly helped by the experience it touted at the top of its lineup. The team’s regular top-four was comprised of co-captain Sabrina Sobhy, juniors Gina Kennedy and Amelia Henley, and senior Kayley Leonard, all of whom had years of success at the college

17

13

To be here for that 600th win means so much more than just basketball.

3

*

RACHEL LEVY Sophomore forward

*Place in Ivy League

Overall record

103 Number of three-pointers converted by Katie Benzan this season.

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

level under their belts. Remarkably, the senior class of Sobhy, Leonard, and Mehta did not lose a single match in their Crimson careers.

The women’s team was also bolstered by its first-ever Egyptian players, freshmen Amina Yousry and Hana Moataz, who generally held places in the middle of the order and, like the rest of the team, went undefeated on the season. After years of the Harvard men’s team relying upon Egyptian players — including Ali Farag ‘14, who won the world championship in Chicago earlier this year and is currently the world number one — it seems as if the women, too, are beginning to recruit from the squash-rich northeast African nation, something that will only help them tighten their grip on the Howe Cup moving forward.

For the men, a national title was no foregone conclusion heading into the season. 13-2 and 13-3 seasons in 2017 and 2018 had ended in crushing defeats to Trinity, which was responsible for handing the Crimson four of its five defeats over the last two seasons. This time, though, there was no stopping Harvard. While the men didn’t quite match the women’s 117-0 season sweep, the Crimson went undefeated as a team and won all but three of its 16 matches by margins of at least 8-1.

“We started the year really well,” junior co-captain Timothy Brownell said.

“We really paid attention to detail starting late August all the way through the season, and that really paid dividends in the end when the competition really got tough.”

Most impressive was the way the men ended their season. Clearly tired of championship defeats to Trinity, Harvard left no doubt, sweeping the overmatched Bantams 9-0 in New Haven en route to its 26th Potter Cup. “We had some things to prove,” Brownell said. “Trinity’s obviously a really strong team and they got the best of us the last two years, and I think this season was about answering some questions

Baseball

25

That was crazy. It was the most fun baseball day, probably ever.

1

*

PATRICK MCCOLL Senior first baseman (after Harvard-Yale)

*Place in ivy League

that we had of ourselves and I think that we showed that we are capable of some really good things. I think we did put an exclamation point on it. It was an amazing feeling.”

Of the Crimson’s nine regular competitors, just one, Alexi Gosset, was a senior.

Unlike the women, whose top players had substantial experience at the college level, the men’s regular No. 1 and No. 2 — Victor Crouin and Marwan Tarek — were freshmen. According to Brownell, the team’s three freshmen — Crouin, Tarek, and George Crowne — instantly helped change the program. “[The freshmen] all really trained hard starting at the beginning of the year and they pushed the older guys to step up to a different level to keep up with them,” Brownell said. “They weren’t scared to

ABOVE THE BALL

3

start the year and it was really refreshing to see the young guys leading the charge.

Not just with the level of squash they played at but with the way they carried themselves day in and day out at practice.

It made everyone buy in.”

The season also ended in triumph at the individual level.

In addition to Farag, who continues to dominate in his post-Crimson career, Crouin and Kennedy ensured in Providence over the first weekend in March that the college individual titles would belong to Harvard players, too.

Crouin did not drop a game in his four victories, and none of them were particularly close, either; his closest games all came in the final, which ended in an 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 victory over St. Lawrence’s Mohamed El Gawarhy.

Kennedy, meanwhile, won her first national individual championship in Providence after finishing as the runner-up last year, making it further clear that in 2019 the Crimson would not be denied first place in any team or individual competition.

“I think the culture of everyone buying in and wanting to get better is unique,” Brownell said. “I can’t speak for other programs, but I just know that in the past, on teams that I’ve been on, people just go through the motions and they’re there when they have to be there, and here there’s a common thread of a love for the game of squash. People come down and they really love to play, which is cool to be a part of.” lev.cohen@thecrimson.com

The men’s side includes just one outgoing senior in a team prepared to dominate for years to come. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Softball

Regular season record

12 Number of regular-season saves for junior Kieran Shaw, an Ivy-record.

1

*

23

It was super exciting to win the championship outright after having to share the title with Dartmouth last year.

RHIANNA RICH Senior infielder *Place in Ivy League

17

Regular season record

219 Runs batted in prior to NCAA Tournament games

23

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

2018-19 Men’s Hockey Season Recap TIMOTHY R’ O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By STUTI R. TELIDEVARA

T

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

he dust has settled on the 20182019 men’s hockey season, though developments for the Harvard team have continued past its season-ending shutout loss to UMass in the NCAA Regional Semifinal.

With captains elected and spring training underway, the squad can look back on a year that featured successful aspects — the Crimson’s return to national rankings and the NCAA Tournament among them — and growth that bodes well for the season ahead.

This is not to say the fall won’t have its challenges. Chief among them will be learning how to make up for the loss of junior defenseman Adam Fox, who recently announced his departure for the NHL’s New York Rangers. Harvard’s high- powered offense and NCAA-best power play were in no small part thanks to the skilled blue line spearheaded by the Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist. Players will have all summer, though, to imagine what the team will look like without him.

Even without Fox, the Crimson will be seeking consistency — a goal it came closer to this season than in the year prior. A deep, talented rookie class meant the team faced significant adjustment time last fall. The squad took a turn for the better by the new year, however. While the momentum was enough to put Harvard back in the USCHO top 20 rankings, a Beanpot semifinal loss served as a stum-

24

bling block, and close losses at the tail end of the regular season cost the Crimson a chance at the Whitelaw Cup. The team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament — but UMass stormed past Harvard in a 4-0 drubbing.

“The narrative [of the season] is a pretty positive one,” coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “We made a great deal of improvement during the year. We obviously had a real young group in some impactful spots…. There’s always some disappointment in not being able to collect any trophies, if you will...but all in all there was a lot of positives to focus on.”

BACK FOR MORE For the Crimson, the 2017-2018 season could be best described as frustrating.

The team had no shortage of skill, with then-junior and now-NHL forward Ryan Donato setting the pace. But an inability to close out winnable games left Harvard with multiple could-have-beens. The attitude, then, toward the 2018-2019 season was one of optimism and determination not to repeat those mistakes. The previous year’s disappointment was reflected in the preseason polls, as the Crimson was ranked fifth in the ECAC with limited national spotlight. That made no difference to the team, which had expectations of its own.

“Starting at the beginning of the year we knew we had a ton of talent and a ton of

upside,” co-captain Michael Floodstrand said. “We knew that we were going to be a second-half team.”

Harvard’s freshman class was both a boon and a challenge. The rookies certainly brought skill; forward Jack Drury and defenseman Jack Rathbone were also NHL draft picks. Any group of freshmen takes time to adjust to the college game.

The question was, how long would these players take? And how long could the Crimson afford to wait?

The squad’s exhibition opener against the U.S. NTDP under-18 team was an early sign, perhaps, that Harvard had a ways to go — the game ended in a 6-3 loss for the Crimson. But the U-18 group was notoriously talented and had taken down multiple NCAA powerhouses during its tour of the college ranks. With this small consolation in mind, Harvard headed to Hanover, N.H., for its first competitive game.

The Big Green has proven a troublesome travel partner, always poised to steal a game. But few could have foreseen the 7-6 overtime barn-burner that ensued.

Two power play tallies from sophomore defenseman Reilly Walsh, a debut goal from rookie Baker Shore, and a staggering 5-for-7 night on the man advantage were not enough to earn the Crimson a win.

But the biggest question mark prompted by the loss was in net. Starting the season for the first time, senior net-minder Michael Lackey had a putrid beginning

(7.04 GAA, .741 SV%). Thanks to an injury after his freshman year and the success of fellow goaltender Merrick Madsen ’18 thereafter, Lackey had collected little ingame experience in his career thus far, despite his seniority. Now that the position between the pipes was his to lose, though, Lackey’s rocky start was especially concerning. Nevertheless, the coaching staff was careful to point out that the team as a whole was lacking in defensive responsibility.

“That was one of the crazier games I’ve...played in,” Floodstrand said. “The thing for me was...we scored six or seven goals, played horribly defensively. But if we’d just tightened a few things up we beat that team 6-0…. You’ve got to see those things as blessings early on in the year, things you can learn from.”

A week later, Harvard hoped to set the ship right with its home opener against Quinnipiac. The coaching staff had elected to start junior backstop Cam Gornet in place of Lackey. Gornet allowed a puck to squeak past him early in the contest, and the Crimson spent the next 50-odd minutes trying to catch up to the Bobcats.

Some relief arrived in the next day’s battle against Princeton, which ended in a 4-4 tie. Three games in, Harvard secured the first point of its season.

Another contest ended in a stalemate: on the road against Yale, the Crimson opened scoring but skated to another

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

ON THE BIG STAGE

The Crimson turns the page on a season that featured its return to national rankings and the NCAA Tournament. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

draw. The energetic New Haven crowd witnessed several flashes, though, that Harvard would hone over the course of the season: a reliable Walsh rocket on the power play, a steadier Lackey, and bigtime moments from Zerter-Gossage, to name a few. The payoff came the very next day, as the Crimson bested Brown, 5-2. At last there was a tally in the win column.

ON THE UP AND UP “As much talent as we had, you can’t win in college hockey if you don’t have a solidified system and everyone’s not on the same page,” Floodstrand said.

That system began to come together in late November. While the rest of the school prepared for The Game, the team faced its first ranked opponent in thenNo. 18 Arizona State. The weekend double-header offered Harvard a chance to test itself against a squad that had beaten some of the best of the best already; while the Crimson’s man-advantage play helped it to a 4-1 win in the first game, the Sun Devils took the second in overtime.

The power play squad’s efficiency made it

the best in the country (36.4%), a rank it held effectively all season.

Perhaps the season’s biggest challenge thus far came the next week. Harvard took on then-No. 15 Cornell at Madison Square Garden and gladly rose to the historic occasion. Its 4-1 victory came atop three assists from rookie forward Casey Dornbach and the most solid showing to date from Lackey, who had grown more comfortable in his starting role with time.

While the neutral-ice, non-conference game did not count towards the Crimson’s ECAC points total, it certainly provided a valuable statement win for the all-important PairWise rankings — the decider of NCAA Tournament berths.

Harvard breezed past Colgate after the Thanksgiving break, only to come up short against a much-revitalized Cornell squad. Though it was only the beginning of December, the Big Red loss was the last conference contest of 2018 — the other two being a victory against Atlantic Hockey foe Bentley and an exhibition against Concordia.

“Going into Christmas break, we knew

that we weren’t where we wanted to be,” Floodstrand admitted. “But I just can remember the feeling of like, ‘we’re a very good team, I think we’re going to make a good second[-half] run.’”

Winter break saw rookie Jack Drury — by then the team’s top-line center — represent the U.S. at World Juniors, earning a silver medal just as the Crimson returned to the ice again. A close call went Harvard’s way in its overtime victory against RPI when referees awarded Dornbach the winning goal after a lengthy review.

2019 began with a win right off the bat, unlike the season itself — the first indication that the team was ready to roll.

Even in January, the Beanpot was on the team’s radar, and for good reason. The Crimson had a taste of its Boston foes in a game against BU, though the result was a draw. The next matchup, against Princeton, broke a long Harvard win streak: the Tigers’ 4-2 win was their first against the Crimson since 2013.

Redemption arrived the next day against then-No. 6 Quinnipiac, however.

Lackey’s 46 saves made the difference in

a 2-1 Harvard win, holding onto a shutout until a Bobcat tally with 27 seconds left in regulation. Where the team would have liked to ride that momentum into February, though, a formidable obstacle lay in its path.

The season series-deciding clash against Cornell would take place at raucous Lynah Rink. The Crimson owed the Big Red for the previous season’s Lynah heartbreaker, but revenge was in short supply. Cornell shut out Harvard, as Big Red net-minder Matt Galajda once again played spoiler. That disappointment was sweetened slightly by the following contest against Colgate, in which the Crimson completed its season sweep of the Raiders.

To close out the month, Harvard played host to then-No. 9 Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Against the Golden Knights, the more challenging opponent of the two, the Crimson appeared as though it would concede another winnable game.

After squandering a 3-1 lead, however, Harvard locked down the win in overtime. The Saints were positively steam-

25

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

STRONG DEFENSE

Flying fists are par for the course when Harvard clashes with Yale, and its two contests this season were no exception. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

rolled by the Crimson, down 6-0 at one point before the final result of 7-3. Lackey was given a period of rest after shutting out St. Lawrence for 40 minutes — a task made slightly easier by the fact that he only faced nine shots. The win marked the team’s first four-point weekend of the season.

“Eventually in the second half [of the season] we started stringing together games...where we didn’t really miss periods like we did at the start [of the year],” Zerter-Gossage said. “We kind of developed that as we went forward.”

The positive result only brought more good news. The following week, Harvard broke into the USCHO rankings for the first time since dropping out in November of 2017. With confidence on its side, the squad prepared to dispatch a visiting Dartmouth before heading into the Beanpot semis. The Big Green nearly caught the Crimson napping; despite being outshot, Harvard’s late goals undid the effect of Dartmouth’s pressure.

ALMOST AT THE FINISH LINE Things didn’t go exactly as planned when the Crimson took the ice at TD Garden, facing Boston College for a chance to play for the Beanpot trophy. Though the 2-1 loss was as close as it appeared on pa-

26

per, “almost” was hardly a consolation — especially considering that Harvard’s prolific power play had not been able to make its mark. Once again, the Crimson would play in the consolation game.

Of course, with the team’s ranking and a weekend clash against Union, it could not afford to sit back. Even a nominally low-stakes consolation game against Boston University would have PairWise ramifications; Harvard did not want to rely on an ECAC auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament, given how competitive the conference was shaping up to be. The conference matchup versus the Dutchmen, another ranked ECAC team, would be especially important in terms of how the Crimson responded after its Beanpot disappointment.

“I think that as a team we believed that we would ultimately have success,” coach Donato said. “The guys believed in what we needed to do to have success and what kind of improvement we needed to have….

They believe in the process of what we were doing.”

That response came loud and clear, as Harvard took the Union game, 5-3, after going a perfect 4-for-4 on the power play.

Fox pocketed four assists on the night, and at that point in the season, he also led college hockey in power play points per

game (0.82). With that done, the Crimson returned to the Garden and skated past BU by a score of 5-2, thanks to junior forward Frédéric Grégoire’s two-goal night and key assists from Walsh and junior defenseman John Marino.

Harvard headed up to North Country with a six-game conference winning streak, hoping to sweep both Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Though the Saints provided more resistance than they did at Bright-Landry, the Crimson overcame an early deficit to win, 3-2. After taking the lead early against the Golden Knights, Harvard suffered a double-blow: first, Lackey was injured in a net-front collision, and then, after he left the ice, Clarkson took the lead. The team had missed out on two more within-reach conference points — but perhaps more importantly, the Crimson was staring at a question mark in goal for the first time since October, after which point Lackey had totally turned around his play.

Indeed, it would be Cam Gornet between the pipes for the last regular-season weekend at home. With the conference race tighter than ever, the four points at stake against Brown and Yale were imperative. When the Bears jumped to a 2-0 lead, it seemed as though the hosts would have an uphill climb ahead of them.

But after a month of missing the net, Harvard’s power play — still the best in the nation despite the drought — found its stride; that, and Zerter-Gossage’s clutch timing, completed the comeback. On Senior Night, Lackey could only watch from the stands as Gornet faced down the Bulldogs and, in a happy surprise for his team, shut the door on Yale entirely. Gornet earned the Tim Taylor Cup for his efforts, and the Crimson earned its first home win against the Bulldogs since 2017.

By the final weekend of the regular season, Harvard was playing for a share of the Cleary Cup, given to the regular-season ECAC leaders. So were the other three teams rounding out the conference’s top four, however. Buoyed by goals from four different rookies, the Crimson overcame RPI in the first contest of the weekend by a score of 4-1.

In its last contest Harvard was facing another Cleary Cup hopeful, Union.

While the power play made the difference against the Dutchmen the last time around, though, this time it was failure to execute that cost the Crimson. The team was down by a goal in the third period when it was gifted a 5-on-3 opportunity — one it was unable to cash in on. Ultimately, Harvard had to settle for two points on the weekend, enough to guarantee an ECAC first-round bye but not enough for a share of the conference title.

KNOCKOUT For the second straight year, the Crimson would play host to Dartmouth for the ECAC Quarterfinals. This time, however, the hosts were determined not to let the Big Green steal Game 1 and put them on the ropes. That effort proved successful: on Friday, Harvard rode a three-point night from Adam Fox to victory and completed a comeback in overtime to put Dartmouth away on Saturday.

The quick result meant an extra day to prepare for Lake Placid. The weekend also marked a milestone for Fox, who set a personal high in points in a single season, tying a program record set by Mark Fusco ’83.

“I’m always reluctant to really go deep into [legacy] while the guy is still here, but I think we’re watching one of the best players that has worn our jersey,” said coach Donato that night in March. “[Fox has] been tremendous. He makes others around him better, he’s very underrated defensively, and he never really gets down. He keeps the bench positive and confident, and he’s a heck of a player.”

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

A DECORATED The Crimson bids farewell to seniors who made it to the NCAA Tournament all but one year of their collegiate careers. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON CLASS PHOTOGRAPHER

Once again, the Crimson made the trip up to Lake Placid to face Clarkson in the conference semifinals. This time it was the Golden Knights’ turn to run away with an early lead; at the halfway mark, Harvard was down 3-0. The Crimson had just managed to come within a tally when a controversial Clarkson goal was scored and upheld, effectively whittling away its momentum — the game’s final result was a 5-2 Golden Knights win.

But the season wasn’t over yet. Harvard’s ranking was high enough to warrant an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, as the team had hoped. As a fourseed, the Crimson would face a top seed in the Regional Semifinal — in this case, then-No. 4 UMass, home to the nation’s most dangerous defenseman in sophomore Cale Makar.While Harvard was most certainly the underdog, Lackey was returning to the net and the team’s power play could make a dent in any opponent.

For the audience, the matchup was worth the chance to see Makar and Fox face off.

In the end, the Crimson’s man-advantage squad ended up a moot point; unable to generate any offense against the stifling Minutemen, Harvard was summarily handed a 4-0 loss.

SAYING GOODBYE “It happens all so quick, you don’t realize how small a part you are in this huge world of hockey and even how small you are in Harvard hockey’s history,” said Floodstrand, reflecting on his college career. “There’s something that’s a little sad about that, but also something to look forward to, knowing that you established something at this school and you built something and you were a part of something at this school and a storied program.”

The Class of 2019 certainly had a part to play in the Crimson’s history. The six seniors made three trips to the NCAA Tournament, one Frozen Four run, and four Lake Placid trips. Floodstrand (114 GP), Zerter-Gossage (128 GP), and defenseman Jacob Olson (115 GP) all played well over 100 games in a Harvard sweater. Lackey closes out his Crimson career with personal bests in just about every category and will don the Providence College sweater next season as he looks to cash in on his final year of NCAA eligibility, courtesy of his double labrum surgery three summers ago.

Another year brings another banner season for a Crimson star player — this time, it was Adam Fox, who was bested

in the Hobey Baker voting by none other than Makar. Though he did not receive college hockey’s most prestigious honor, Fox holds the Harvard record for most points by a defenseman in a single season (9–39—48) and became the first blue-liner to reach 100 career points as a junior since Wisconsin’s Justin Schultz in 2011-2012, finishing the year with 116 points (22–94— 116).

“He’s a guy that, as a former player, you really can appreciate the deception, the skillfulness, the little things that he does that throw people off his scent,” coach Donato said. “It’s really great to watch. The way he carried himself off the ice is something that I think we can always be proud of…. It can be sometimes bittersweet [to have a player leave] but I think in a lot of ways we’re family.”

With Fox departing for the Big Apple, his fellow defensemen will play even more important roles. John Marino, who will serve as co-captain in 2019-2020, provides stability on the back end but is more than capable of generating offense, too. Expect the points load on the blue line to be shared primarily by puck-moving defenders Walsh, who partnered with Fox on the power play, and Rathbone, Fox’s evenstrength defensive partner. An incoming

freshman or two will also contribute to filling the scoring void left in Fox’s stead.

Co-captains Floodstrand and Zerter-Gossage steadied the boat all season with timely goals and focused, passionate play. A still-young forward corps will have to make up for their absences, though it will certainly have the speed and skill to do so.

In terms of personnel, though, the biggest question mark surrounds the man in the mask. Will the coaching staff turn to Gornet, the oldest and most experienced of the team’s net-minders next season? Or will a promising rookie take the starting job? Lackey shut down his critics with his own performances; perhaps Cambridge crowds will be surprised by the player between the pipes once again. But before next season, there is still time to reflect.

“I haven’t put too much thought into how we want to be remembered,” Floodstrand said, hesitating. “Every day, I think the only thing you can ask for — I guess, looking back on it, I’d like to be remembered [for] just working hard, and giving everything you have to the program.... We laid it all out there.” stuti.telidevara@thecrimson.com spencer.morris@thecrimson.com

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

THE ELDER ONE

Senior pitcher Kevin Stone cheers from the dugout of this season’s Beanpot Championship at Fenway Park. QUINN G. PERINI — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

TRIPLE PLAY: Baseball’s Stone Brothers able eight-year stint of Stone pitchers for the Crimson.

In a 2019 campaign that has featured so much promise for the baseball team, Kevin, now a senior, has served as the anchor and elder statesman of the Harvard pitching staff. But Kevin is not the only Stone you can find in the Crimson dugout on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, as the 6’4 right-hander is joined by his 6’6 brother, Grant.

By AMIR MAMDANI

I

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

n the spring of 2016, Kevin Stone, then a freshman for the Crimson, started eight games for Harvard baseball, compiling a 4-2 record and a 4.22 ERA. If everything goes according to plan, younger brother Adam Stone will toe the rubber for Harvard until the spring of 2023, capping a remark-

TEAM RECAPS

Men’s Volleyball

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*

6

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But I as soon as I heard that Harvard wanted me, choosing to go here was definitely an easy decision for me. I love it here.

MATTHEW CTVRTLIK Junior

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*Place in EIVA (Tied)

Grant is a junior on the team with another season at Harvard yet to come, but has impressed as of late, throwing two clean innings in a 2-1 loss against Boston College in early May. While Grant and Kevin have served different roles for the Crimson, few doubt the impact the duo have, both on the on-field product of the program, but also in building a strong team culture.

“It’s really cool having two guys from

Overall record

10.9 Average kills/set this season

Women’s Volleyball

4

the same family on the staff, I think it makes us closer as a group and definitely brought the junior and seniors together as classes,” said sophomore pitcher Jaren Zinn of the impression Grant and Kevin have made on the team. “It’s a great example for the younger guys to have both of those guys around and setting the tone.”

Both products of Fairfield College Prep. and natives of Stamford, Conn.,

11

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It is an amazing feeling when our defense and our offense all comes together.

* CHRISTINA CORNELIUS Captain *Place in Ivy League

Overall record

112 Number of block assists for Cornelius, a Harvard record

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Kevin and Grant wear the No. 25 and 26 jerseys respectively, and have appeared in 64 games across the past seven combined seasons they have pitched. The tall righties have become stalwarts in the starting lineup and out of the bullpen, even as their three years together comes to a close.

“I always say it would be weird if he wasn’t here,” Kevin said. “We’ve always played on the same teams, and it would be strange if we didn’t play together. We have always been the 1 and the 2 and always shared baseball as an experience together.”

And as Kevin departs after this season, Grant will be joined next year by the youngest of the three brothers, Adam.

Adam Stone, like both of his older brothers, is a right-handed pitcher for Fairfield College Prep, helping the team to a 25-2 regular season record.

At 6’6 with impressive results thus far, Adam has the potential to be the best Stone yet — just ask Kevin.

“Just knowing that he watched us play for Harvard and had the desire and drive to be like his older brothers is really humbling and fills me with a lot of pride,” Kevin said. “He’s the younger brother who’s gonna detababley be the best of the three of us and the one who’s shown the most talent this early on.”

While it remains to be seen if Adam indeed becomes the “best Stone”, it’s clear that the brotherhood is a bond whose strength is appreciated by the entire staff.

“Kevin always has his brother’s back, and you see him giving Grant advice and different times, and that’s really cool to see,” Zinn said. “They played summer ball out in California together after Grant’s freshman year, and they have a really cool brotherhood.”

This culture of baseball, and its dayto-day impact on the next generation of Stones is hardly an accident. All three brothers pitched in Little League and in the summers from a young age, helping sow the seeds for a seven-year college dynasty.

“We’re a baseball family, it’s just like part of the household. We’re Red Sox fans, my mom played softball pretty competitively growing up, so for us to show some talent in baseball early on fired them up,” Kevin said. “We grew up with it, it was our lifestyle from the spring all the way through the fall.”

The Stone family, who can be seen in the stands cheering on Kevin and Grant, have played a significant role in the careers of all three brothers. From helping all three play at a young age to supporting them throughout the long summers of baseball, family is a thread that has always been present for the Stones.

“It’s so special and my parents are super proud of the three of us, making them proud is a goal for all of us,” Kevin said.

“After having them say they’re proud of us after watching us play for a weekend is one of the most peaceful feelings, it’s such

NEXT UP

3

*

SAM WELSH Freshman Thrower *Place at Ivy Heptagonals

year starter on the pitching staff. And perhaps most importantly, he helped lead Harvard to its first Ivy League Championship series and outright regular season title since the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

But if you ask him, he’d sure to say that playing with his brother, Grant, has meant more to him than any of those statistics.

And although Kevin won’t get the opportunity to share the dugout with Adam, he is very aware of how unique an experience he and his brothers have been a part of.

“It’s super cool and you try not to be cocky and prideful about it, but it’s something that’s really special,” Kevin said.

“It’s going to be awesome to watch Adam throw with G, but just knowing that we’ve all shared these years is really incredible.” amir.mamdani@thecrimson.com

Junior Grant Stone will be joined next season by his younger sibling, Adam. PHOTO COURTESY OF GRANT STONE

Men’s Track/Field Visualization is also very important because it allows me to ‘feel’ a lot of good throws without burning myself out.

a blessing.”

While Adam is set to arrive on campus in the fall, as commencement approaches the focus is firmly fixed on Kevin, as the fourth-year Government concentrator prepares to leave the program. He has started 33 games on the mound for the Crimson, including a Beanpot Championship victory, and an Ivy League Championship series game, but much of the impact the senior has made on the team takes place off the diamond.

“He’s always someone I can go to if I need help or advice,” Zinn said. “He’s always there for everyone and has been an unbelievable leader for us, and a truly invaluable member of this team.”

In his four years at Harvard, Kevin Stone has gone 14-10, with four complete games in regular season action. He has thrown over 175 innings for the Crimson, and will graduate as the only true four-

Women’s Track/Field

11 Number of Conference Champions at Ivy Heptagonals for the Crimson

2

*

You have to have a set schedule. I’m going to study for this class for this many hours and then go to practice and then study again.

NGOZI MUSA Captain/Sprinter

*Place at Ivy Heptagonals

14 Place of All-American Simi Fajemisin

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Chasing Championships

Heartbreak of the Year

Water Polo vs. Princeton, 11/18/2018

By BEN STERN

N

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

o. 14 Harvard men’s water polo finished off an impressive regular season and headed to the Northeast Water Polo Conference title match with a number of key wins under its belt, including victories over No. 20 Wagner, No. 18 George Washington, No. 18 Loyola Marymount, No. 7 UC Davis, and No. 3 Cal. The biggest two wins of the year, though, came against Ivy rival No. 12 Princeton. The Crimson pulled off a 13-12 nail-biter in overtime in the Garden State and then topped the Tigers again back home in Blodgett Pool by a score of 9-8.

So it was all the more heartbreaking when, after skirting past Brown, 11-10, Harvard fell to Princeton in the NEWPC championship, 12-10, at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center at Brown University..

The Tigers finished 19-10 overall on the season. The Crimson posted a better record of 22-8 to complete its fifth consecutive season with 20 wins or more.

It was a winnable game from the beginning.

In the first quarter, Harvard’s leaned on a staunch defense as its attack struggled to get going. The score was knotted at one apiece after the opening stanza.

Sophomore attacker Dennis Blyashov scored halfway through the second quarter to put the Crimson ahead 2-1.

Then Princeton kicked into gear. Sophomore attacker Miles Cole put away two quick goals to take the lead, and after senior attacker Nathan Ondracek tied the score at 3-3, the Tigers went up for good with one second left in the half, 4-3. Harvard never claimed the lead again.

Princeton stretched its lead to as

TEAM RECAPS

UNLEASH The Crimson was just one win away from the NCAA tourney as the CWPA representative. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON IT PHOTOGRAPHER

wide as four goals, but the Crimson hung around, pressing until the end. Ondracek scored two more, and Blyashov added three more.

In the end, though, it wasn’t enough.

Harvard scored with a minute left in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to two goals, and that was it.

“We had more than enough firepower on our team to put them down,” said Ondracek. “We just made some mistakes, and they capitalized on them.”

Junior attacker Charlie Owens felt the same way.

“The previous two years, we didn’t win the regular season in our conference, and we kind of went into the tournament with an underdog attitude and did really well in the championship tournament,” Owens said. “Then this year, we did really well in the regular season and won that title, and then we just, you know, folded in the

Men’s Swim/ Dive

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Dean [Farris] has had this coming for the past ten, twelve, fourteen years. He has worked very hard for it and improved his backstroke and freestyle.

KEVIN TYRELL Head Coach

30

*Place in Ivy League

1

championship game, which was obviously disappointing.”

There was still a lot to be proud of for the Crimson. The senior class finished as the winningest in program history, and current players are bullish on the team’s prospects next year.

Ondracek highlighted team chemistry as an essential ingredient to his class’s sustained success.

“It was awesome,” Ondracek said.

“The fact that we won so much is a huge accomplishment, and we’re all proud of it. Our class is really close, and that contributed a lot to why we did so well, both in and out of the pool.”

Owens pointed out that the team’s rookies are poised to make strides next season.

“We’re definitely moving up,” Owens said. “We have a really good class of freshmen coming in next year, and our fresh-

Overall record

8 Team Finish at NCAAs, best Ivy-finish in 50 years

Women’s Swim/ Dive

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men this year were some of the top guys on our team. It’s going to be a big year.”

Ondracek reflected on the team’s future in a similar light.

“It’s both good and bad,” Ondracek said. “Only bad because I’m graduating, and I won’t be here for it. I think our team is always getting a lot better, from here.

The younger guys especially, the freshmen and sophomores, have so much potential. They’re going to be amazing, and it’s going to be really cool to see what they do. I really believe this next set of players—the freshmen, the sophomores, the incoming guys—is going to continue our success.”

In the end, it was just a tough one. A loss to hopefully learn from in the future.

“Shots just weren’t going in,” Owens said. “We just didn’t have our day.” ben.stern@thecrimson.com

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Each athlete’s consistency and dedication to the sport and to each other enabled us to win the Ivy League Championship.

VALERIE YOSHIMURA Tri-Captain *Place in Ivy League

Overall record

1,500 Team Points in Ivy League Championship Victory

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Female Rookie of the Year Ellie Shahbo

By HENRY ZHU

A

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

historic season by any account, the 2019 Harvard field hockey team finished the season ranked sixth in the nation, earned its first NCAA Tournament win in program history, tallied the most wins in a single season in program history (17), and maintained a 14-game win streak (another Crimson record).

All of these accomplishments occurred remarkably in just Year One for the Crimson’s star goalkeeper, Ellie Shahbo. A stalwart in front of the net, the former England U-18 team captain immediately solidified herself as one of the best at her position across the NCAA. Finishing second in the nation in both save percentage at .804 and goals against average at .70, Shahbo logged three shutouts on way to an 11-2 season record. Moreover, all of those victories came in the form of an 11-game win streak in which merely four goals went through the Harvard net. The Ivy League Rookie of the Year made seven saves in the final game of that run, holding No.9 Penn State to just one goal in Harvard’s historic NCAA Tournament win in the Round of 16.

“Everyone was determined today and everyone had faith that if we worked that little bit harder over the field and trust the game plan we had set out, we would be fine,” said Shahbo following the win over the Nittany Lions. “The team just had so much grit and determination to win, especially when we put our mind to it.”

Shahbo’s emergence into the Harvard starting side came in the Crimson’s fourth game of the season. Matched up against high-powered No.3 Maryland, the St. George’s College native withstood a blistering Terrapins attack and made 10 saves

Men’s Tennis

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Disrupting the Dynasty in that contest, the most by a Harvard goalie since Izzy Davies in 2015. Harvard did not ultimately take home a victory, but that learning experience fueled Shahbo and the Crimson to three consecutive shutout wins. Those three shutouts were also 1,2, and 3 of that historic 14-game win streak.

“We had an outstanding performance

by Ellie Shahbo, our freshmen goalkeeper, and saw a lot of good scoring distribution,” captain Kathleen Young said after a 6-0 rout over the Yale Bulldogs. It was a real team effort.”

The Cornelius, N.C., native would go on to make 22 more saves to finish out the season. Outside of the aforementioned game against Penn State, one critical and momentum-shifting win during this stretch was against then-No.3 ranked Princeton on Oct. 20. Having long been an Ancient-Eight powerhouse, Harvard’s dom-

BRIAN SHI Freshman

*Place in Ivy League

son clinched its fifth Ivy title with a 6-0 win over Dartmouth(only one save was made in that contest). “I don’t actually have to do that much. I was just sitting around getting cold today.”

It is this combination of individual excellence and team effort that ultimately propelled Harvard to a season it will never forget. Shahbo, who was recognized as a Longstreth/NFHCA Northeast Region First Team selection at the conclusion of the season, will lose a dominant group of senior classmates who brought the Crimson into the national spotlight. But she has three more years to maintain that legacy, and perhaps, do even more.

At the very least, one thing is certain: the net is secure for Harvard field hockey for years to come. henry.zhu@thecrimson.com

COURTESY OF SHELLEY SZWAST/HARVARD ATHLETICS

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I still want to go pro after college. I still want to go for it.

inant 3-1 win over the Tigers which saw Shahbo make three important saves swung the Ivy pendulum in the Crimson’s favor. From that point on, the Crimson rode the driver’s seat on way to an Ivy title and a shot at the national one as well.

“At the end of the game there was literally blood, sweat and tears left on the field,” said the goalie after the win over the Tigers. “Playing big games, like Princeton, is one of the reasons you play sports — to have a challenge to overcome, and the next best thing is getting to do it with people you love.”

Of course, the collective defensive effort in front of Shahbo is one that may not earn its due recognition on the stat sheet, but one in which the goalkeeper made sure to acknowledge throughout the season.

“My defense makes it very easy for me,” said Shahbo with a laugh after the Crim-

8

Overall record

41 National Ranking of Team at the End of the Season

Women’s Tennis

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“It’s always fun to play other Ivies because we know it’s going to be a battle. The competition is really good.

LEXI MILUNOVICH Junior *Place in Ivy League

17

7

Overall record

2 Number of Crimson Players to Earn All-Ivy First Team Honors

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

OneShoe Wonder

doing so with one shoe is nearly impossible.

He was also able to beat an accomplished field of best distance runners in the Ancient Eight, runners who have ran close to four minute miles and won state and national titles.

Tuntivate one-shoe performance was a microcosm of how his indoor season went for him. It was characterized by the necessity to maintain composure even when the circumstances were unexpected and adverse.

“I had a pretty interesting indoor season,” Tuntivate said. “January didn’t go as planned, but then we were able to get in a few good weeks before Heps. We did Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday as normal, and then dial it back a tiny bit for Thursday and Friday. I tried not to do anything too different and treat it like any other meet.”

Even as someone accustomed with dealing with adversity, losing his shoe in the biggest race of the season was uncharted territory for the junior distance runner. The track usually feels smooth under the soles of spikes or running shoes, but when one’s bare foot touches the track, one truly feels the roughness of the terrain.

Tuntivate’s shoe started slipping off about 300m into the race, creating an uncomfortable motion for him during the first two laps of the race. When he lost his shoe between the 400m and 500m mark of the race, he had enough of the unnatural motion and kicked it off, exposing his bare foot to the track.

“When the shoe came off, I was really flustered for a lap or two,” Tuntivate said.

“I knew I wouldn’t run well if I let it get to my head. I took a few deep breaths and just settled in and tried to keep with the pace.”

For distance runners, a preconceived race plan is an imperative part of the preparation before a race. When Tuntivate’s shoe came off, he had to abandon his race plan and gauge the outlook of the

Male Performance of the Year

Kieran Tuntivate, Men’s Track

By MAHTAB SHIHAB

T

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

he Crimson had a slew of impressive athletic performances in the past year. Whether it be junior point guard Bryce Aiken’s 44 point performance against Columbia that made it onto Sportscenter, freshman Victor Crouin’s individual NCAA championship victory in squash, or sophomore Dean Farris breaking four Harvard school records for the swim team at NCAAs, the individual performances of male Crimson athletes were unprecedented and received national attention.

Nonetheless, one performance that might have gone under the radar was junior distance runner Kieran Tuntivate’s performance at the Indoor Ivy Heptagonal Championships. He swept the 3000m and the 5000m events and was named the Male Most Outstanding Track Performer for the event. However, as impressive as his sweep was, it is how he won the 3000m event that should garner more attention.

Tuntivate ran the majority of the 3000m with only one shoe. Running an 8:12, and averaging a 4:23 mile for almost two miles with both shoes is hard enough;

TEAM RECAPS

*

his fastest lap for last, Tuntivate edged past Columbia senior Brian Zabilski, taking home the title.

What is even more remarkable about Tuntivate’s performance, was that he was able to recover in time to win the 5000m event the next day as well.

“I was told to get it wrapped up, have it treated, and don’t put any pressure on it, that way it would heal as much as possible,” Tuntivate said. “As long as I could run, we were going to give it a shot. I warmed up and it hurt pretty bad but still wanted to give it a go.”

Once again enduring the pain, Tuntivate proceeded to win the 5000m in 14:25.32, capping off one of the most impressive weekends by a Harvard athlete. mahtab.shihab@thecrimson.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE IVY LEAGUE

Women’s Crew

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race on his own accord while battling the discomfort of running barefoot.

“The mentality going into the 3k was trying to separate 1800 in and try to stay comfortable,” Tuntivate said. “It was completely scratched two laps in. I tried to settle in, and it was definitely uncomfortable the entire time, but I tried just not to think about it. My goal was then to just stay within reach and close hard.”

After adjusting his race plan, Tuntivate was able to power through the next 1500m without much of an issue. However, the pain and discomfort as the pace picked up with 1000m to go. His skin was peeling and he could feel the blisters on his foot.

Nevertheless, he resisted the pain to the best of his ability and focused on closing the race as strong as possible. Saving

There’s no one who is slacking off in class; [they’re] taking incredibly advanced courses, and it’s really a challenge JACK STONE Senior *Team Regional Rank

5:45.3 Time of heavyweight crew varsity eights in victory over Brown in the Stein Cup

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You’re pulling for not only yourself and the girls who’ve been in the seat before you but who will be in that seat next year and the years following.

TESSA BUCHAN Senior *NCSA Power Ranking

2 Place of heavyweight crew at Eastern Sprints

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Record Time Female Performance of the Year Lisa Tertsch, Women’s Track

By BEN MORRIS

H

next season for Harvard.

When asked about her goals for the upcoming year, the new 5000m record holder said, “I really enjoy training right now and I want it to stay that way. I think the key to my performance at Penn Relays was staying healthy and training consistently over a long period of time. I don’t think I have done anything special in

training other than putting in the work every single day and I want to keep doing that and just see where that puts me next year.”

Tertsch has been running phenomenally and it is exciting to think about what is to come. benjamin.morris@thecrimson.com

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

eading into the event, Lisa Tertsch was not expecting to break the collegiate student-athlete record for the

5000m race.

“I did not plan this to be a big race. It was supposed to be a rustbuster for Outdoor Heps 10 days later because I did not race since Indoor Heps.”

Coming off of a decorated cross-country season in the fall, Tertsch, a junior distance runner from Germany, ran a 16:03.15 for the 5000m race at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia on April 25.

Just two months earlier, she ran a 16:18.58 to claim first place at the Ivy Indoor Heps meet.

After missing her sophomore year, Tertsch was determined to come out this year and make great strides in her overall progress.

On Thursday, the opening day of competition, the junior stepped onto the Franklin Field track, ready to make a statement – more to herself rather than to spectators – about her capabilities as a runner.

As the race began, Tertsch flew out of the gates, but made sure to pace herself and not use all of her energy in the beginning of the 5000m. When asked about what was going through her head during the roughly 16 minute campaign, the Darmstadt native said, “Not that much.

When I am racing, I am always very focused on the present; the less I think and trust my instincts, the better the race usually goes. I mainly focused just on staying relaxed and near the front, and just race

Men’s Fencing

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Especially at a competition like Ivies that is full of ups and downs, as a captain I envision myself as the mental backbone of the team.

ERIC ZHAO Co-captain *Place at Ivy League Championships

and listen to my coach.”

As the race entered its final stretch, Tertsch was neck-and-neck with one other participant, Katrina Spratford, a 28-year-old runner out of NE distance.

Although Tertsch finished second in the race, she finished first overall among college students, not only setting the collegiate student-athlete record, but also shattering the previous Crimson record of 16:11.05.

While the accomplishment is truly remarkable, Tertsch’s initial reaction was rather neutral, considering her performance. “I actually did not care that much about the time right after the race.

I thought something along the lines of, ‘Good, I am progressing, another step forward.’ I did not know that it was a school record until my teammates told me about it later,” said Tertsch.

Her time not only set multiple records, but it also unlocked a new opportunity for the young runner.

“The time also qualifies me for U23 European Championships in July, which I found out the next day and made me really happy and excited,” Tertsch said.

After the Penn Relays, Tertsch continued to build on her momentum with a strong showing at the Ivy Outdoor Heps meet less than two weeks later. There, she raced the 5000m and 10,000m races–finishing first in both with times of 16:13.95 and 35:05.32 respectively.

Tertsch had an incredible outdoor season overall and looks to continue building on her performances this summer, in the U23 European Championships, as well as

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Overall record

1 Place of freshman Geoffrey Tourette in the foil division of the Northeast Regionals

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIDELINE PHOTOS/THE IVY LEAGUE

Women’s Fencing

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For the rest of the bouts, I was beating people I had never beaten before. I was carrying that energy with me throughout the entire day.

CINDY GAO Freshman, epee *Place at Ivy League Championships

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Overall record

11 Consecutive Beanpot title victories

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

More Than A Dream

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBBIE FEINBERG

Athlete Perspective Robbie Feinberg, Men’s Basketball

By ROBBIE FEINBERG

M SENIOR FORWARD

y story as a Harvard basketball player begins way before I ever stepped foot on campus, took an SAT, or played in a high school basketball game.

During my first week of high school, I wrote a letter to my future self, describing my goals for the next four years. While some of my aspirations were broad, my top goal was very specific: I dreamed of playing basketball at Harvard. In my eyes, the combination of academic and athletic excellence was truly unparalleled.

By the time my senior year came around, I had many big decisions to make, but perhaps none greater than if I was going to attend a college that was recruiting me for basketball, or if I was going to try and earn admission into Harvard as a regular student. The day before Thanksgiving, I received my first official offer to play collegiate basketball, and was given one week to make my decision. Nearly everyone in my life told me to accept the offer right away, and when I told them that I wanted to wait two weeks to hear back from Harvard, they said I was crazy. Why would I pass up the opportunity to go to a solid school where I would likely get playing time right away, just to roll the dice

TEAM RECAPS

on an extremely selective school that was not recruiting me for athletics? The answer was simple: I believed in myself, and there was no way I was going to give up on my dream because of other people’s lack of faith in me.

I stuck with my gut, and let the offer expire. Thank god that I did.

Coach Amaker had seen me play the prior summer, and when I alerted him that I had been admitted, he told me that I could join the team as a preferred walkon. While I was absolutely elated at the news, little did I know that my experience on the team would completely surpass my expectations.

When I showed up to campus the next fall, it did not take me long to realize that Harvard Basketball is much more than just basketball. It is a non-stop developmental experience, both on and off the court. Coach Amaker teaches us just as much about becoming responsible, well-rounded young men as he teaches us about the game of basketball. He consistently lectures us about the necessity of putting academics ahead of basketball and the importance of not just doing well in the world, but also doing good in the world. Additionally, the experiences he

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We’re on our home course. It’s both an advantage and a responsibility to defend the Charles against other teams.

ANDRE DEMPSEY Senior heavyweight rower

*National Rank for Men’s Heavyweight and Lightweight

ers in practice. The day before our game against Boston University, we played so well that coach Amaker actually decided to start the five of us on scout team the next day, replacing the normal starters. Instead of the starters being selfish and resenting us for taking their starting spots for the next game, they were our biggest fans. Each one of them came up to me separately and shared how excited they were for me and that they were so happy that my efforts in practice were finally being recognized. It was at that moment that I realized that Harvard Basketball was something truly unique.

The next day, I scored my first career points, and when I glanced over at the bench, there stood all of the players that I had spent the majority of my career cheering for…jumping up and down, cheering for me. While I will probably forget the final score of that game in 10 years, I will never forget the way my teammates made me feel. As I now walk away from my time as a Harvard Basketball player, I can say with confidence that I would not trade my experience for the world. I have made memories and friendships that will last forever, and I am honored to be a part of such a special brotherhood.

Women’s Crew

Men’s Crew

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has organized for us are truly unbelievable. In just the last year, our team has met with President Jimmy Carter and Coach Mike Krzyzewski, visited the Twitter headquarters, and toured the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in D.C., among several other unique experiences.

However, neither these lessons nor these experiences are the most special part about the Harvard Basketball program.

In this world, it’s very easy to just join a team. You can play for a team in a recreation league, you can work as part of a team on a group project, etc. However, it’s very rare that you get to join a family, and that is what Harvard Basketball is. Everyone in the program is genuinely invested in each other’s goals, happiness, and success on and off the court.

As a bench player for the majority of my career, most of my time and energy was spent supporting my teammates. My role was to be our bench captain during games and to bring my natural competitiveness to practice every day to push the starters to be the best they could be. One week during my junior year, my bench lineup, known as “scout team”, was playing particularly well against the start-

1:12.42 Time of freshman Drake Deuel’s world-record finish in the lightweight erg half marathon

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When I enter Weld Boathouse, there are endless framed pictures of Liz O’s past crews, and I realize that she has been the same life mentor to each of these women as she is to me.

SOFIA DONNECKE Heavyweight co-captain *National Rank for Lightweight

1 Place of HarvardRadcliffe heavyweight crew at Eastern Sprints

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019

Parting Shots: The Crimson Sports Board Stockless Parting Shot Jack Stockless

E

arly every September and April for the past few years, I would begin my days by walking into the Leverett House dining hall, grabbing a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, and — brimming with anticipation — checking the website of the league in which the Harvard club baseball team was playing that season. Most of the time the websites would have nothing to offer; they simply displayed last season’s results, untouched over the long summer break or the cold winter months. I guess I was too eager. But one day each season, those slates would be wiped clean, The outdated scores and standings were usurped by a fresh set of unplayed games and the teams were organized alphabetically in the standings, not yet having had the chance to jockey and leapfrog each other in bids for postseason glory.

If for some reason you find yourself perusing the American Club Baseball Association’s website, you’ll see a standings sidebar on the right-hand side of the page. At the very bottom of the list, dead last, buried in the cellar — that’s where you’ll find the 0-6 Harvard team from this spring. The New England Club Baseball Association’s site is a bit more forgiving, as its design seems unchanged since the early 2000s and distracts from our 2-8 finish in the fall season.

As a member of the team for the past eight semesters, I’m no stranger to seasons like the ones we had this past school year.

We did make a playoff run once during my career, facing off against Brown at the decrepit, goose-infested Moakley Park in Boston where we actually had to draw bas-

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But you can never look ahead to the next match.

You always have to focus on who is in front of you.

DUNCAN RHEINGANS-YOO Co-captain *National Ranking

es with our spikes in the dusty infield because neither team brought any. (We lost a heartbreaker, 2-1.)

Several times — more than should be expected with an official roster of more than 30 members — we had to start games with eight, or even seven, players. This naturally led members to send messages over the club email list with subject lines like “STEP THE F UP” or “Thanks for Sending us to the Slaughter House.” Sometimes we even had to recruit from outside Harvard; my friend from BC, guys from another player’s summer team, and alumni of the team all made guest appearances. We had more people show up for the Dodge for Dollars tournament than for most games. We rarely had more than half the team in uniform — some guys would wear whatever Harvard t-shirt and sweatpants they had laying around. You get the point.

To some, this team might sound miserable, the perfect candidate for disbanding as an official organization and going down in flames. But I loved it. Though my love for baseball in general might be clouding my judgment just a bit, I do not regret a second spent with the club baseball team.

The stories were the best part. The legendary trips to Moakley, our de-facto home, affectionately known as Dinger City. The time when we actually won a game shorthanded; Babson really squandered that seven-inning-long power play. Our victory in the inaugural student dodgeball tournament and our runner-up finish this year, netting us $1,500 combined in prize money.

Even after we lost a game 14-1 or something like that, we managed to fall back on stories

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Overall record

6 Number of All-Americans on team(men’s and women’s)

to achieve a sense of unity that would otherwise come from having a winning season once in a while.

Storytelling is also what drove me to the Sports Board at The Crimson. Growing up, flipping through dog-eared Sports Illustrated issues in my room or getting ink under my fingernails from the pages of The Boston Globe while eating breakfast, I often thought to myself that being a sportswriter would be one of the coolest things imaginable — after being an actual professional athlete, of course. Getting to live out that dream at Harvard, even if for a short period of time on a small stage, brought me immense joy.

When I got a scoop about the football team and had to feverishly type it out on the @THCSports Twitter account, I briefly felt like the ever-ready Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport. I tried my best to emulate the polarizing Dan Shaughnessy or Stephen A. Smith whenever I delivered a hot take in my column. And I may have borrowed a bit too much from the Capital J Journos at Pardon My Take when brainstorming ideas for my Around the Ivies pieces. Though

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The Harvard fencing team, we put a big emphasis on our teammates around us and the level of energy in the room.

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SHAWN WALLACE Co-captain

*National Ranking

those tweets rarely got much engagement and my articles garnered only about 200 pageviews on a good day, I felt like what I was doing was important; the community at The Crimson, a group of people who worked tirelessly to produce a paper five days a week, every single week, helped keep me motivated even on days when I dreaded seeing that I had a deadline to hit.

As a rule, I typically don’t enjoy telling my own stories. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed writing for the Sports Board so much; I had the chance to tell others’ stories, both those of triumph and those of failure. I certainly don’t claim to have told all of them particularly well — I’m sure my articles written as a comper in the fall of 2015 weren’t stellar. But contributing to the record of Harvard athletics and making memories with the small (yet fearsome) band of fellow sportswriters at 14P has given me some great stories of my own to tell.

And I will continue to tell them for years to come. jack.stockless@thecrimson.com

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Overall record

12 Consecutive Beanpot title victories

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2019