But it was more than her scoring that helped propel the Crimson to victory. Down the stretch, VanderMeulen picked up key draw controls that allowed Harvard to maintain possession long enough to drain the clock and make a Princeton comeback impossible, as the Crimson finished the contest ahead, 11-9.

“The [Tigers] coach just shook my hand and said, ‘Great game, Jenn,’” VanderMeulen said. “I think she was happy for me. She always respected my decision to go here.”

VanderMeulen had an even more impressive individual performance in her team’s Wednesday afternoon win at home against the Crusaders. In the match, VanderMeulen tallied a career-high six goals and eight points.

With 44 tallies and three games remaining, VanderMeulen is in prime position to surpass the 46 scores posted last season by Jess Halpern during her sophomore year.

While VanderMeulen was expected to make an impact from day one, expectations grew when Halpern sustained a season-ending injury in her team’s second game, making the freshman the team’s number one scoring option.

Thankfully for the entire Harvard team, VanderMeulen picked up in college right from where she left off in high school.

“[Coach Lisa Miller] expected a lot from me going in,” VanderMeulen said. “I’m pretty lucky that the transition has been easy for me.”

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.