Born in Japan, Kobayashi moved to upstate New York at age 14 and went on to have a stellar high school and club career for FC Westchester, catching the attention of coaches nationwide, including Junot.

Along with Innocenzi, who had a similarly strong club career and success on the national level, Kobayashi and Schmoll have faced some challenges in moving to the college game and transitioning to college life.

Kobayashi noted the rapid speed of the college game, as well as the raw strength of all the players.

“It feels like everybody’s bigger than me,” he said.

At 6’6”, Schmoll may not be able to empathize with such complaints, but he was surprised by how true Harvard’s scholarly reputation has held.

“The workload’s a lot harder than I thought,” he admitted. “I don’t really get much time to relax.”

But overall, it seems the transition to life at Harvard has been painless, largely thanks to a supportive group of coaches and teammates.

“It’s been great to have the upperclassmen as a source for advice on classes, scheduling, and everything else,” Kobayashi said.

“Everybody’s been really helpful and accommodating,” Schmoll agreed.

For their part, the freshmen plan to continue working hard in practice and solidify their roles as key contributors. Above all, they hope to reverse the recent fortunes of a team with high preseason expectations.

“We’re individually doing well in terms of getting playing time,” Kobayashi said. “But that’s not what it’s about. I play to win the game.”

The Crimson will be looking to get back on track Friday night in a decisive matchup at Stanford, where Junot will be looking for a strong performance from this freshmen rotation.

“All in all, I am happy with all of them,” Junot said. “They continue to contribute, and we feel confident putting them on the field.”