But the day belonged to the Yearlings.

Delaney Smith was understandably ecstatic. "I've been waiting to see how the freshmen would react to a game, and I am so pleasantly surprised."

Junior Collins, who was the only upperclassman on the court for much of the game, was equally lavish with her praise. "Our new personal is just awesome," she said.

Keffer did make a few mistakes at the helm of the squad but she didn't let them affect her.

"I usually get frustrated," she said, "but I knew I had to stay in control."

For Hayes, the play of her talented freshmen teammates came as an unaccustomed surprise. "It was really hard in high school," the budding star said. Having a lot of good teammates, "takes off a lot of pressure and makes it a lot more fun."

Sure, there were some dumb fouls, ill-advised cross-court passes and poor box-out jobs by Harvard, but no one really seemed to care after the game.

A low-key Hayes summed up the feelings of the team in one word, "Excellent."

THE NOTEBOOK: Assumption's Carol Krupa came into the game needing 13 points for 1000 in her career. She fell just five short, but her quest seemed to disrupt her team's play...Harvard women's soccer goalie-extraordinate Trace Whitley made her hoop debut in the closing minutes and brought down the house with a sneak-away lay-up...Harvard (1-0) plays Friday and Saturday in the Harvard Invitational...Senior Co-Captain Wendy Joseph sat out last night's contest with an injury but could be back as early as this weekend.