"The team place a lot of faith in me, naming ajunior to be captain, and I wanted to pay themback. There were seniors there to provideleadership, but I wanted to be there as well,"Clark says.
Clark also says she valued the time off fromhockey and the opportunity to hone her lacrosseskills in the pre-sea-son.
She used that time well. In 1991, the Crimsonreturned to the NCAA tournament and repeated asIvy League champions. Clark was named First TeamAll-America along the way, and honor she won againin 1992.
"I worried about her filling Maggie's [Vaughan]shoes as the leader of the defense, but after thefirst game of the season I never worried again,"Kleinfelder says.
"Maggie was a great role model for me. Weplayed the same position. We were both Ivy LeaguePlayer of the Year," Clark says.
Such a great role model, in fact, that aftergraduation Clark will follow Vaughan once again,this time to Episcopal High School in Alexandria,Va., where she will teach English and, likeVaughan, coach lacrosse.
Clark attributes family, teammates like Vaughanand inspirational and experienced coaches likeKleinfelder and Caples.
"The older players taught me so much, and whenI became one of the older players, I wanted to dothe same," Clark says. "My family was alsoimportant. They have been to almost all my gamesevery year, and we play a lot of sports at hometogether, not against each other, but with eachother."
Kleinfelder and Caples point out that Clark'sstrongest asset is her work ethic.
"He work ethic is incredible. She was the firstperson to practice, running before everyone elsegot there, and then, if she felt she didn't have ahard enough workout, she'd run again afterwards,"Kleinfelder says. "She worked very hard, and yetwasn't compulsive about it."
Though Clark's mantle is certainly full ofhonors from her collegiate athletic career, theMather senior says that sports have helped her,above all, develop as a person.
"It has given me confidence in myself andothers that I will take from the field and use inother areas," Clark says.
"Even more than my personal gain has been thethrill of helping building a successful program infield hockey, as well as being part of a traditionof excellence in lacrosse. It is great to be ableto see both stage of development," she says.
What Clark has taken away from Harvard is onlymatched by what she has given back. While mergingathletics and academics, she has also cultivated atrait not often found at Harvard: a genuinewillingness to give of herself to others.
"Harvard has been lucky to have her. She is theconsummate team player and has been a pleasure tocoach," Caples says.
Kleinfelder puts it best: "Harvard will missher [Her graduation] will be a real loss to thecommunity.