Stephen Jahelka, Sean Mahon, Jake Gambitsky, Brian Fischer, Will Walker, and Keegan Michel (left to right) lead a talented and deep freshman class that brings Top 100 talent to every position. Already returning nine starters, the addition of the rookies gives the Crimson a strong sense of confidence as it tries to avenge a loss in last year’s Ivy title game.

After falling just short of its first NCAA tournament appearance in six years last season, the No. 15 Harvard men’s lacrosse team went out and reloaded.

The squad lost its best player, Dean Gibbons ’11, to graduation, but is poised to replace the production of the attackman and his fellow departed seniors thanks to an elite recruiting class that Inside Lacrosse ranked No. 3 in the nation.

The group marks a monumental haul for second-year head coach Chris Wojcik ’96, who added some of the nation’s best high schoolers to his first-ever class of recruits. Its a group of rookies so talented that Inside Lacrosse deemed it “arguably the strongest Ivy recruiting class in at least a decade.”

The class includes six freshmen in the Inside Lacrosse Top 100, all of whom rank inside the top 65 and four of whom are in the top 26. Though the squad returns nine starters from a team that won 10 games last seasons—its most since 1998—many of the rookies have already left their mark on the field.

“It’s a class of great kids,” Wojcik says. “[They’re] high-character individuals, in addition to being a very talented class.”

The group is led by Stephen Jahelka, a defenseman, who, like Gibbons, hails from Garden City, N.Y. Jahelka—a 2011 first-team All-American and the 2011 Long Island Player of the Year—was ranked as the best defensive recruit in the nation by ESPN and Inside Lacrosse. The former publication ranks him as the No. 6 recruit overall, the latter as the eighth-best.

“I ask myself what I can do to make other people around me better, so people are talking about Harvard as the No. 1 defense in the nation,” Jahelka says of his objectives for the year. “I just want to step on the field, get as much playing time as I can, continue to learn, and make sure the defense as a whole is good enough to keep teams up at night.”

Two other talented rookies, Jack Breit and Brian Fischer, are helping Jahelka try to attain that goal. Breit was ranked the 46th-best overall recruit by Inside Lacrosse, while Fischer, Jahelka’s high school teammate, was ranked 21st.

To play behind those new defenders, Wojcik landed Jake Gambitsky, deemed the best goalie prospect in the nation and the tenth-best recruit overall by ESPN. Gambitsky, who was named a U.S. Lacrosse All-American and an Under Armour All-American as a senior, could challenge junior Harry Krieger for minutes in net this season.

The Crimson also landed elite talent at midfield. Headlining that group is Sean Mahon, who was ranked the 14th-best recruit overall and the fourth-best incoming midfielder by Inside Lacrosse. Also from Garden City, Mahon is a member of the U.S. Men’s Under-19 team that will compete in the World Championships in Finland this year.

Joining him as freshman midfielders will be Peter Vandervelde, Grove Stewart, and ESPN-Rise first-team All-American Kegan Michel, whom Inside Lacrosse ranked 54th overall in the nation. Michel has shown early on why he earned that distinction, racking up a team-high seven ground balls in the team’s opener against Vermont and scoring two goals on Tuesday at Holy Cross.

“They’re a great group of guys, top-to-bottom,” tri-captain Terry White says. “Talent-wise, they really have not disappointed. They’re poised to [make an] impact pretty much all over the field. They’ve handled the expectations well, and they’re going to give us an extra boost this season.”

The class is also talented up front.

First, there is Will Walker, ranked as the No. 36 overall recruit by ESPN. After scoring 88 goals during his high school career, Walker tallied his first collegiate score against the Catamounts.

He will be joined on the freshman attack by Philip Wagley and Matt Scalise, son of Harvard Athletics Director Bob Scalise. Matt will become the third member of his family to play for the Crimson lacrosse squad, joining brothers Mark, a senior midfielder, and Michael, who also played midfield for Harvard before graduating in 2010.

Of the rookies, Wojcik says, “they’ve all come in from day one and really competed to raise the level of talent on the team, but also for playing time and roles on the team,

he adds. “We have high expectations for them, and we expect them to be major contributors over the course of their four years.”

Early on in the season, the rookies are simply trying to learn as much as they can.

“It’s different coming through high school,” Jahelka explains. “As a senior, you’ve been there four years, you’re kind of more of a teacher. When you get to college, you’re back to being a student....The game’s a lot quicker; everything is a lot faster. You have to comprehend more things on the fly. I’m like a sponge trying to absorb all the tips and tricks of the trade.”

As a whole, the talented group of freshmen has the Crimson poised to finally get back to the NCAA tournament after having its bubble popped following a loss in the Ivy title game last season.

“Everyone in that locker room wants to win a national championship,” Jahelka says. “All the little things add up to that goal of playing Memorial Day weekend.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.