Experience making Harpel a stronger player
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Olivia Harpel had the luxury last year of a core of seniors that led the West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls lacrosse team.
A freshman then, she was free to adjust slowly to the play at the varsity level while she developed into a standout scorer for the Knights.
”I think last year was an amazing year for our program,” Harpel said. “We graduated 12 seniors. I think having that year for me was incredibly helpful. I like taking the time to get to know something. The girls on the team were amazing last year as well as this year. I definitely learned a lot. I’ve become more comfortable with playing in high school and being on the field. A year was incredibly helpful for me.”
Harpel enjoyed a strong finish to her first year with 67 goals and 12 assists, but never felt any pressure to be that big scorer in her first year.
”The hardest thing about Olivia is she’s always been so skilled,” said Knights head coach Beth Serughetti. “I knew her in middle school. She would come to some of my camps. I could see the skill she had and knew she was at or above all the girls in her grade. That was hard about last year. You would expect so much and she was just a freshman.”
Harpel still doesn’t feel the pressure to be a main scorer even though the team dynamics are much different this year. The Knights have a much bigger blend of inexperience and youth with the juniors and seniors that remain. Ana Lucia Dellien is the top junior scorer back, and she gave the Knights their first 100 career goal scorer earlier this year.
The Knights have had to rely more than ever on veteran players like Dellien and Harpel, and they have produced. In the toughest week of WW-P North’s season, Harpel came through with her finest showing.
The Knights midfielder had four goals and an assist in 15-11 loss to Allentown last Monday. She provided six goals and an assist in 13-12 win over Hopewell Valley last Wednesday. Included among her goals was the 100th of her career. Last Saturday, she had a season-high nine goals and one assist in 19-16 win over previously unbeaten Princeton.
Olivia Harpel is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
”Olivia is like a three-dimensional player,” Serughetti said. “That’s something very special about Olivia. She sees the field better than ever. She’s a sophomore, but doesn’t play like a sophomore. She’s a very mature lacrosse player. She’s been progressing through these games and getting stronger and stronger and stronger.
”She’s in the same role as last year, but she’s that much better. She’s even stepped up as a leader, not just physically with what she puts out on the field, but she’s a verbal leader. When she speaks, she has important things to say, and that makes a big difference too.”
Harpel has been pleased with the development of the Knights. They started the year 0-2 before winning eight of their last nine games. WW-P North knocked off Notre Dame on Monday and Hopewell Valley on Wednesday was the same 13-12 score as a week earlier.
”Our team this season has grown so much,” Harpel said. “Being 0-2 after that Princeton game, we didn’t hang our heads. We know we’re a young team this year, we said we’re going to practice hard every day and work on what we need to work on. I think we’re still growing.”
Picking up some key Colonial Valley Conference wins in the last 10 days helps their confidence mightily as they head into today’s game against rival WW-P South. They learned a lot in the loss to Allentown. Serughetti wasn’t even sure that Harpel would play after suffering an injury the day before at a select tryout.
”It was a tough game back and forth,” Harpel said. “There are little things here and there — like our transition and our defense. It’s not one play or one part of our game. We were tight with them and they pulled away. I think we’re getting better at staying with a team like that and learning how to push through some of the turning points in a game and staying focused and working hard for 50 minutes.”
The Knights proved it with their first win over Hopewell. They were able to get out to an 8-6 halftime lead and hold off the perennial power.
”I think it’s great that we can come out of tough game and go right into another one and work against strong teams and work on what we need to work on,” Harpel said. “Hopewell was exciting. We had a few practice and went into Princeton excited to play another good team.”
The win over Princeton was their biggest of the year. The Little Tigers hadn’t lost a game yet, and had handed North a lopsided 16-10 decision in the teams’ first meeting.
”It was such a big win for us for so many different reasons,” Serughetti said. “The first is they were tops in the CVC. We knew we were capable of a better game the first time we played them. We were disappointed we didn’t play well as a team. It was nice to come out and play at a higher level than we were capable of.”
In the teams’ first game against each other, Harpel was held in check with just three goals. This time, she knew she had to pick up her play with Dellien missing the game.
”She’s a huge presence in our midfield and all over the field,” Harpel said. “She’s an incredibly strong player. We didn’t say we have to score to make up for her. We said, in general we have to work as hard as she does. We have to win draws, and get ground balls and work in the midfield as hard as she does. We kept our heads up and said we’re going to play for her.
”We filled Ana’s spot and had to take that on,” she said. “All the stats that came out of it were because we didn’t focus on that.”
Harpel has been able to provide just what the Knights have needed from her this season. In her last four games, she has 29 goals to bring her season total to 56 goals to go with six assists.
”I don’t think there’s any pressure, certainly not in a bad sense,” Harpel said. “Our team is very close and our coaches are always positive. Our team as a whole, it’s just fun to be out there. The pressure and that stuff falls away when you’re on a team that’s that close and is so supportive. The learning, the success and the things we work on, it comes together because of how supportive my teammates are and how close we are as a team this year and were last year.”
Scoring goals isn’t the main way that Harpel sees helping the Knights. She thinks it goes beyond those statistics.
”I love practicing as much as I love playing games,” she said. “That’s a way to help a team — to practice as hard as I can. I have so much fun doing that. That would be the one thing — to always be positive and help the younger players and older players, and compete with everything I have in practice and games. It’s nothing more than that for me.”
Harpel still considers herself a work in progress. She identifies with being a sophomore, not one of the veterans on the team. She’s still trying to learn and grow along with her teammates.
”We have juniors and seniors that are incredibly supportive and have experience with the program,” she said. “I think it’s helpful and also really cool to have girls that have been on the team four years that know our coach and the way we play. Last year was different coming into it and getting to learn from them and this year I know what I know and I’m getting to learn even more from our leadership this year.”
So far, it’s gone pretty well for Olivia Harpel, who’s developed into one of the most dangerous scoring threats in the CVC.
”She understands all the concepts of lacrosse and how it’s not just one person that makes a team,” Serughetti said. “She’s a very fast learner.”