Dusk was settling over a remote end of Soldiers Field last night, but the Harvard women's lacrosse team--the only nationally ranked spring team that doesn't train on the Charles--was still practicing for today's 3 p.m. game against Springfield College.

The day's practice stressed passing, both on offense and defense, as coach Carole Kleinfelder expects the Chiefs to be fleet of foot. "Springfield is fast, but they don't have the sticks, she said.

"We're expecting them to come out in a zone, which we'll try to break at midfield with the wings getting the ball downfield. We have to pass by them because we won't be able to run by," she added.

Despite Springfield's speed, the laxwomen won't make any major revisions in their play, which has produced an unblemished 6-0 record and a number-two national ranking. "We're not going to do anything different, just better." Kleinfelder said.

Indeed, improvement and not Springfield may be the team's biggest challenge today. Assistant coach Ann Rittenhouse explained that Springfield lost to UNH 8-0 and UNH lost to Yale 8-6, and Yale lost to Ursinus 19-3, whom the Crimson defeated. If the final scores of these games are indicative. Harvard should win by 26 goals.

After practice yesterday though, nobody was predicting such a large margin of victory for the Crimson. Everyone, however, was confident. Center Carrie Bryan said. "The pressure will come from within. We're going to use the game to work on our team play."

The Crimson's passing, although the team's major weakness at the beginning of the year has been steadily improving. Saturday's 12-6 victory over Princeton saw the laxwomen tally seven assisted goals, the most this season by the Crimson contingent.

Practice, Practice, Practice

When asked about yesterday's late practice, Kleinfelder seemed surprised, saying that the session ended earlier than usual. The second year coach supported her training schedule, adding that "you can ad-lib on offense, and sometimes you have to be creative, but within most situations you need discipline."