“[At home] you’re told afterwards what you could have done, but you’re pretty much put on the field, given a bit of advice and told to play your own way,” Maasdorp said. “Here, you want to know what [your teammate] is going to do [beforehand].”

One example of such revamping was Caples’ crash course in zone defense.

“We never do zone defense at home,” Maasdorp said. “We’re always man-to-man. It took some time to get me in the right position and get me doing things right.”

Training itself was another development in Maasdorp’s preparation.

“I never lifted before I came here,” Maasdorp said. “I was trying to bench the bar, and I was like, ‘This thing’s so heavy.’ Well, it doesn’t get any lighter than that!”

But on the flip side, her new teammates had rarely faced the type of competition that Maasdorp saw regularly in Zimbabwe. Her team routinely practiced against men’s squads, exposing her to the speed and skill of men’s field hockey. Her brother introduced her to such play.

“I definitely gave her the horrible big- brother treatment by being tough on her in the field, and you can tell she’s not afraid,” Paul said.

The link between her two worlds is maintained by family trips, such as her mother’s visit last week in time to see the Crimson shut out Providence. Maasdorp’s mother also witnessed Harvard’s biggest game to date, a loss against then-No. 3 Wake Forest last Saturday.

Though her mother has since departed, the Crimson’s season marches on. As Maasdorp continues to build on past experience and shape her career at Harvard, her next chance to shine comes tonight, when the Crimson faces No. 10 Northeastern at 7 p.m. on Jordan Field.

—Staff writer Brenda E. Lee can be reached at belee@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.