Harvard’s women’s lacrosse team will host No. 18 Princeton this Saturday at Jordan Field, marking its final home game until March 24. The match is scheduled for noon and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
The Crimson aims to secure its first victory over Princeton since 2012, when Harvard won 10-7 at Jordan Field. In their most recent meeting at the venue in 2024, Harvard narrowly lost in overtime, 18-17. Princeton currently leads the all-time series between the teams, 38-18.
Last weekend, Harvard suffered a defeat against Dartmouth in its Ivy League opener. Despite an early four-goal lead by the Crimson, Dartmouth responded with two separate six-goal runs during the game. Callie Batchelder scored a hat trick in the fourth quarter to help close the gap, but Dartmouth managed to pull away with two late goals.
Batchelder leads Harvard in goals this season with ten through four games and is the only player on the team with double-digit goals so far. Over her last nineteen games, she has recorded thirty-eight goals. Charlotte Hodgson leads in total points with eight goals and ten assists after four games and is approaching her career-high from last year when she finished with forty-eight points. First-year player Natalie Marvin has contributed four goals as a rookie.
Through four games this season, Harvard has outscored opponents 14-9 in first quarters and forced thirty-eight turnovers—ten more than their opponents have caused. The team averages nearly twelve goals per game.
Reflecting on last season, Harvard was consistently ranked among the top twenty-five teams nationally and began the year with three wins in its first four matches—including upsets over No. 15 Navy and No. 23 UConn. Caroline Mullahy had a standout campaign, reaching several milestones: her hundredth career assist came against UAlbany; she broke both Harvard’s program record for assists and then set a new Ivy League mark; later, she became just the seventh player in program history to reach two hundred career points and joined an exclusive group of NCAA players with over one hundred fifty career assists. Both Mullahy and Annabel Child earned All-Ivy First Team honors and were named USA Lacrosse All-Americans.
This season sees eight new members join Harvard’s roster as part of the Class of 2029. Three incoming players appeared on Inside Lacrosse’s Power 100 rankings: Lexie Koch was ranked highest at No. 40 while Emerson Midura and Cecilia Batchelder received honorable mentions.
Despina Giannakopoulos and Kate Gilliam are captaining Harvard this year. Giannakopoulos started every game for each of the past two seasons as a key defender, while Gilliam returns for her senior year having played twenty-nine games during her collegiate career.
Key offensive contributors returning include Hodgson, Batchelder, and Grace Mullahy—all of whom posted career-best numbers last season.
After facing Princeton on Saturday, Harvard will travel to play Boston College next Friday at 5 p.m.
