They say that the Southern Hemisphere is a funny kind of place. It's summer there when it's winter here; everything is topsy-turvy.

So the Harvard women's soccer team should have known what to expect when it headed South to compete in the Washington Area Girls Soccer Tournament.

Okay, so D.C. isn't quite Tierra Del Fuego, but it's close enough.

Because before the Crimson had played two full minutes south of the Mason-Dixon line, the world had, in fact, turned upside down.

North Carolina State had scored--twice.

Two goals in two minutes.

All season, through 630 previous minutes, Harvard had given up two goals.

Clearly, something was amiss--and, as the tournament unfolded, getting amisser by the minute.

After an eventual 3-0 loss to State, the booters played Maryland to a scoreless draw and dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions to William & Mary and George Mason.

In just 27 hours, the Crimson's record plummeted from 3-1-2 to 3-4-3. And while the tourney results theoretically won't count toward the NCAA post-season tournament, they won't exactly be ignored by the coaches who do the balloting.

Three losses and one tie don't sound too impressive--until you start to take some other factors into consideration.

Entering the weekend, only the Terrapins (9-4) and the Wolfpack (6-3-2) weren't among the national top 20. The Tribe (5-1-2) was ranked seventh and the Lady Patriots (9-0-1) first.

Yup, first.

And while Mason edged the Crimson by one, it lost to Boston College, 2-0. Harvard tied the Eagles, 1-1, last week.

That contest accounted for one of the ties that the Crimson brought into the tournament. The other incoming draw adds an equally interesting dimension to the WAGS results.