Back from last year are the team’s two leading scorers, Sproul and fellow senior Casey Owens. The team returns both of last year’s second-team All-Ivy League selections, Owens and senior defensive midfielder Allison Kaveney.
This year’s squad is the largest in recent memory, with nearly as many freshmen as seniors. Eight first-years are jockeying for a spot on the starting lineup, leading to more competition even in scrimmage.
No matter what the lineup may be, any combination of the 29 players will see serious challenges.
In Ivy play, Harvard will face two of the best teams in the nation, IWLCA preseason No. 2 Princeton and No. 10 Dartmouth. The Crimson’s tightest competition is likely to come from other Ivy teams, and Sproul named the Penn, Cornell, and Brown match-ups as “absolute must-wins.”
The Crimson has stiff competition outside of the Ivy League as well. Syracuse begins the year ranked No. 12 by the IWLCA, and BU goes into the season at No. 15. InsideLacrosse also ranks BC No. 20.
“I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year,” said co-captain Kelly Noon.
“Our weakness is we haven’t had a winning season recently...We don’t really know how to win games, and I think that’s the transition we have to make this year, especially in close games,” Noon added.
STARTING ANEW
Snow will likely surround Jordan Field as Harvard tests its reinforced attack against Massachusetts at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The Crimson may need both aggressive defense and well-managed offense against UMass, which is likely to try to turn the game into a dogfight.
“They’re very scrappy and aggressive,” Sproul said. “UMass will be all over us, all over the field. It’s going to be very intense.”
The team is likely to field an especially tenacious offense.
“UMass is good about making sure if they take a shot and it doesn’t go in, they work really hard to fall back,” Travers said.
But he added, “We’ve been doing a really good job with it. We’re not going to be susceptible to the quick-transition goals that they rely on.”
The bout with UMass is the first of a three-game homestand for the Crimson, which plays Quinnipiac on the following Saturday and the Orange on the subsequent Wednesday.
“We’re really anticipating a very good season. This is one of the strongest teams we’ve had coming into the preseason,” Sproul said. “This week we’re just going to have to struggle with the snow.”
—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.