The Harvard golf team continues to play through the toughest, most crucial part of its schedule today as it meets Holy Cross at home in Concord.

With the exception of Princeton, the Crusaders represent the toughest challenge the Crimson has faced all year. The Worcester contingent has beaten both Brown and Yale, in contrast to Harvard which beat the Bruins but lost to Eli.

"The Cross finished third in the Yankee Conference Championships, and have at least four golfers capable of going under 80," coach Bob Harrison said yesterday.

"They'll be tougher than Brown and Cornell," added team member John Stoviak. "They have most of their guys back from last year. It should be a tough, close match. We'll have to score better than 400."

The Crimson goes into the match bolstered by its impressive victory on Monday over Cornell at Ithaca. Particularly heartening was sophomore Quinn Smith's first-place round of 71.

"It was the first sub-par round we've had this year," Harrison said. "It couldn't have come at a better time, with the Easterns coming. But it's not surprising coming from Quinn. He's been steadily improving, and this should do a lot to increase his coincidence."

Today's match is the last Crimson outing until the Easterns this weekend at Yale. Since only five golfers can make the trip to New Haven, today's results, taken together with those of the Cornell meet, will play a large role in determining who will compete Saturday.

Besides Stoviak and Smith, captain Skip Kistner, Terry Winn and Skip Barry are expected to provide the Crimson power today.