The Harvard men's lacrosse team entered another chapter to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde saga that it calls the 1982 season. Saturday afternoon, the laxmen eked out a 12-11 victory over tenth-ranked Adelphi at Garden City High School on Long Island in the featured event of the school's Lacrosse Day.

Saturday, the squad played like the team that had won five straight contests and handed fifth-ranked UMass its sole loss-of the season. The squad that lost its composure in its 8-6 loss to Rutgers and was overwhelmed by the Princeton defense was nowhere to be seen.

From the outset Harvard's offense was in high gear. The laxmen knocked in four goals in the first quarter while keeping she men from the land of the split-level house to only one tally.

In the second period, both teams went on scoring sprees. The Crimson tallied six times, with three of the laxmen's goals coming within less than 20 seconds of each other, starting at the 7:23 mark. Adelphi awoke front its earlier scoring coma and bounced back with six of its own tallies, putting the score at 10-7 when the halftime horn blew.

The difference in the second quarter scoring rampages was not the number but the manner Two of the Crimson's goals came during man up situations while the Long Islanders could not score when they had a man advantage Adelphi had 11 extra-man opportunities in the game but only capitalized on one of them.

After Adelphi's scoring outburst, the Crimson defense made some second-half adjustments. The man down defense of Chris Esmonde, Brian Edmonds. Tom McGovern Paul Garavante and Rob Sherlock suffocated the Adelphi offense but the real key was goalie Tim Pendergast, who recorded 25 saves.

"Tim was the pivotal factor in the second half." midfielder Rich Rainaldi said after the game. "he turned away some point blank shots."

Those saves were necessary as the Adelphi defense also made adjustments and kept the Crimson offense to only two goals the entire half, Aldelphi put the ball in the time during the third stanza while Harvard's lone tally came when Matt Fee converted on freshman superstar Rob Howley's fourth assist with less than two minutes ticked away in the period.

Harvard's final goal came in the fourth period when J.J. Nullet rolled by his defender and blasted the ball by Shelley to give the laxmen an insurance tally, 12-10. Adelphi scored once more but had any hopes of a last minute rally squelched when coach Paul Doherty was slapped with two quick penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving Harvard a two-minute power play as the end of the game.

The win upped the laxmen's record to 8-4. They will close out the season with a contest on Saturday against Dartmouth at the Business School field. A win would clinch the New England championship, but the Nationals as still only a distant hope at best.