It's more a credit to the program's past than its present that one national lacrosse magazine has ranked the Harvard women's lacrosse squad fourth in the nation in its preseason poll.

And when the Crimson makes its local debut this afternoon, the squad might be haunted more by that past than by its opponent.

Gone are the to five players in Harvard women's lax history and with them three straight Ivy League titles, three straight trips to the NCAA championships and the knowledge that no one was more responsible for turning the Harvard women's lacrosse squad into one of the nation's premiere teams.

In their places are a swarm of talented--yet young, inexperienced and untested--lax women, eager to carry on the newly found tradition.

"But they're still living in that legend," says Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder, eager to dispel the notion that three straight stellar years will automatically become four.

The legend haunted Harvard when at opened its 1984 campaign last weekend at the University of Maryland, sans the quintet that made losing a rare occurence.

"We played though we didn't want to lose rather than as if we wanted to win," one Crimson player said after the season-opening 9-2 loss.

"We have to start playing like a brand new team," Kleinfelder says, glancing at the plaques and awards that decorate her office. "There's no question we're not as strong as we've been." Raw Talent

"But that doesn't mean we can't be," the sixth-year coach adds. "We've got the raw talent."

It's the experience that's missing.

Even the squad's captain is just a two-year veteran to the game. But it's precisely to Captain Maggie Hart that the Crimson will look not only for direction but also for offense. As the squad's and the Ivy League's top returning scorer, Hart has become the star on an as yet starless team.

"It's going to be difficult for Maggie." Kleinfelder concedes. "She's still new to the game; she's still learning."

So it won't be easy for Hart to turn around and tell her teammates what they're doing wrong as it was for last year's All-American Captain Maureen Finn.

But junior Claire Farley has inherited the most unenviable task on the Crimson squad, which finished 12-4-1 and a NCAA quarterfinalist a year ago. A j. v standout last year, Farley will make first home her new home, and there she'll have to replace the graduated Ivy League Player of the Year Finn.

Compounding the problems on offense, a slew of freshmen will have to fight it out for second home, where they'll find the ghost of All-American Francesca DenHartog, who together with Finn holds every Crimson record.

"How good a team we're going to be this season will depend on how quickly we can develop offensively," says Kleinfelder, one of the country's top lacrosse coaches. "That's where we'll have to do our coaching."