Today's Ivy lacrosse opener in Ithaca must rank as the main mystery of the weekend sporting scene. Harvard stopped Cornell 6-3 last year, but the score means little today in light of the wholesale graduations suffered by both teams.

The Crimson has lost ten lettermen, including All-American attackman Grady Watts (the most prolific scorer in University history), All-Ivy attackman Woody Spruance, All-Ivy midfielder Pete Sieglaff, and defenseman Dave Grannis, who won All-American honorable mention.

While Cornell's replacement problems have been less severe, the Big Red will be playing without its two 1962 honorable mention All-Americans, Vann Jones and Bing Carlson. Third team All-American goalie Jung Leong is another Ithacan stickman who will not see action today.

These depressing depletions make pre-game predictions a bit hazardous.

Against M.I.T. last Wednesday, the varsity played one sharp quarter of lacrosse and three periods of questionable quality. While individual stickmen contributed several flashy plays to the Crimson's cause, defensemen Al Straus and Charlie Kessler and attackman Lou Williams were the only really consistent performers against the Engineers.

Most of the varsity's difficulties are the kind that tend to disappear with experience. Defensive clearing mistakes, unnecessary fouling, sloppy passing, and missed scoring opportunities will become less frequent as coach Bruce Munro's sophomores gain time on the playing field.

Unfortunately, the Crimson has run out of those non-League contests which are so vital in providing opportunities for necessary experience and team-work. In Cornell, the varsity faces a respectable Ivy League opponent on its own field with the season less than two weeks old. It will take an outstanding defensive performance and a high-scoring attack (the varsity has scored in double figures just once in five games) to beat the Big Red.