But it didn’t take long for her new teammates to realize she belonged.

“The second she stepped on the field we had an instant respect for her,” then-freshman Jennifer VanderMeulen told The Crimson in 2010.

Baskind made it clear why in her first lacrosse campaign. The sophomore started every game for the Crimson, finishing second on the team in scoring and first in ground balls and caused turnovers. After the season, she transitioned back into soccer mode, getting into shape for the start of the fall season, a process she repeated her junior and senior years.

But when the Harvard women’s soccer team returns to Cambridge this coming August, Baskind—for the first time in four years—will be far away.

“It’s really hard to come to terms with,” she says. “I definitely haven’t done it yet. I’m not sure when it will hit me. I’m a little scared for when it does.”

Not only will she be far from Cambridge, Baskind will be far away from the world of competitive athletics.

After graduation, the neurobiology concentrator will be spending the next year volunteering at hospitals and orphanages in Kenya and Uganda.

But Baskind won’t be completely separating herself from soccer. In fact, she will be working under the NGO Coaches Across Continents, which uses soccer to promote social change in developing countries.

“The power of soccer is huge. I’m excited to use it for different purposes,” Baskind says. “You hear about the potential to be a role model for young girls in developing countries. It’s hard to say no.”

When she returns to the United States after her year abroad, Baskind plans on attending medical school where she is thinking of specializing in pediatrics.

But she will not be completely abandoning athletics. While in Africa, she plans on climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and is looking forward to playing in co-ed leagues when she returns to the United States.

“It will be a part of my life forever, but in a different way,” she says.

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