The Harvard women's lacrosse team, its collective eye focused on the upcoming New England championships, rumbled past Northeastern yesterday, 5-1, at Soldier's Field.

Several team members conceded yesterday's effort was below par because of the weakness of the opposition and the importance of the weekend jousts at Dartmouth.

Harvard's best news may have come from out of town in the form of UMass's 7-2 victory over Yale. That means that the Crimson will be ranked second in the tournament and receive a bye into Saturday's semi-finals. Had Yale won, Harvard would have been seeded third and played Friday.

Offensive power came from the usual source in Harvard's victory yesterday. Senior Sarah Mleczko nailed the Crimson's first three tallies.

Mleczko banged home the opener just 1:40 into the contest, unassisted. After the Huskies evened it up at 5:06, Mleczko added what proved to be the clincher with 6:34 gone, on a fast break with an assist from freshman Jennifer White.

Mleczko, who said "people weren't playing as well as usual," completed her hat trick 4:10 into the second half.

Shots on goal domination revealed the Crimson's superiority, despite the lackluster performance. Harvard fired 30 to Northeastern's five, all but one of which was steered aside by freshman goalie Nancy Boutiller.

A swarming defense kept the Huskie total so meager. Co-captain Stephanie Baum scooped up 14 interceptions, a team record this season. And Anne Velie collected ten more, about her average for the season.

In the second half, Annie McMillan slipped in two goals, one at 14:34 and the other with just 18 seconds remaining, to put the contest away.

Coach Carole Kleinfelder's charges travel to Hanover, N.H., with another objective in addition to winning: the first top three finishers qualify for the national championships, to be held at Princeton next weekend.