Harvard field hockey coach Sue Caples emphasizes her “finesse.”

Her older brother highlights her “fiery nature.”

No matter how you term it, there is no doubt that sophomore Shelley Maasdorp makes her presence known on the field.

Making the jump across the Atlantic from Harare, Zimbabwe, to Cambridge, Maasdorp has impressed with her unique playing style, groomed since her childhood.

A member of the Zimbabwe Under-18 team since the tender age of 15, Maasdorp also led her high school, Chisipite Senior, to a championship at the Top 15 Schools of Southern Africa Tournament. She is currently on the Zimbabwe national squad— a considerable feat in a country where field hockey is the most popular women’s sport.

But for all her accomplishments, Maasdorp landed on her left arm rather than the right foot at the beginning of her field hockey career. The day before her very first game, she broke her arm by slipping while swinging on the crossbar of a hockey goalcage.

All in the Family

Maasdorp’s athletic pedigree impresses, as cousins Ken and Iam Harnden competed for Zimbabwe in the 2000 Olympics. Ken was also a two-time NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles for UNC.

In addition, both parents played field hockey during college, ensuring early starts to their children’s careers. Her brother, Harvard senior Paul Maasdorp was himself a member of the U-18 Zimbabwe National Team.

“[Our parents] were very supportive, always came out every Sunday afternoon and played in our garden,” Paul said.

“We’ve been puttering around since we were little, playing rugby and hockey in the backyard,” Shelley said.

Maasdorp’s 12-year-old sister, Nicola, continues the family tradition, urging her elders to join her in friendly backyard competition.

Family visits to see her brother prepared Maasdorp for her transition to Harvard, but the move left more than her family and friends behind.

“Things don’t always work [at home],” Maasdorp said. “It’s definitely a Third World country. We have power cuts for hours and people are lighting candles and saying, ‘OK, we’ll play cards.’ Harvard life stops when the Internet stops.”

From Harare to Harvard

Maasdorp’s incredible speed and superior ball-handling skills have placed her on the map in the Ivy League—even more so than her flaming red hair.

“Shelley has great skills, obviously, and great game sense,” said Caples after No. 20 Harvard’s 3-2 loss to UConn on Sept. 18. “She knows what to do with the ball.”

Creating on the ball is an essential element in Maasdorp’s game, as evidenced by her team-high five assists in a rookie season that earned her Second Team All-Ivy accolades. This year, Maasdorp is second on the team with three assists, all tallied in a 3-0 victory over Yale, a game she labels as her personal highlight.

A catalyst in the circle, Maasdorp has been instrumental in drawing penalty corner calls for a Crimson team that has capitalized on its strong corner unit.

“It’s always in the back of our minds that if we’re in the circle and we don’t have a direct shot, get a corner,” Maasdorp said. “Corners have become a very strong focal point of our game.”

In fact, Harvard has scored at least one goal in every game off a corner. In the Crimson’s 3-2 losses to both UConn and Wake Forest, all its goals were the result of corners.

A testament to her creativity, Maasdorp manages to find a way to charge right through defenders, whereas others might balk at quadruple and quintuple teams. She creates space where others would not imagine it possible, and her unique playing style has benefited the team.

“The way I play is very different, which is good in the way that the other team doesn’t know what they’re getting,” Maasdorp said. “But sometimes my own teammates don’t know what they’re getting either.”

The adjustment to distinctly different types of play is ongoing on both sides, but it has proven to be a symbiotic relationship for the bioanthropology concentrator and the rest of the team.

New Continent, New Role

Harvard has presented Maasdorp with a new perspective on the game, both in philosophy and field position, with a move from sweeper to midfielder.

After a rookie season filled with adjustment to American referees and game structure that coincided with the daily travails of freshman life, Maasdorp is keyed up for the new year.

Firing on all cylinders for the first time in two years, Maasdorp’s goal for the season is to remain healthy. She spent her senior year of high school sidelined by a torn ACL, giving her the opportunity to study the game from a different angle.

Then, after an ankle injury, Maasdorp was also slowed by a nasty case of shin splints at the beginning of last year. Finally healthy, she is able to concentrate on integrating her playing style into the Harvard dynamic.

After playing with the same high school team for six years, Maasdorp could predict her teammates’ next moves, not by a set game plan but through knowledge of their natural strategy. Acclimation to Harvard has presented the dual challenges of a new team and a more fixed movement than the “spur-of-the-moment” Zimbabwean approach.

“[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.