But there was one thing the booters were able to do, and they did it before play even began.
The Crimson elected to hold the contest at Soldier's Field--which is markedly narrower than Ohiri Field, the traditional home site. It's a switch Harvard has made in every game but one this year.
"I was really disappointed that we played soccer on this field," Minuteman Coach Kalekeni Banda said. "It's bush league and un-professional. People care about this game and we're playing on a practice field."
Scalise, on the other hand, saw no problem with the choice of location.
"We felt it would help us out a little bit--it suits our team a bit better," he said. "Either we're going to play it here or we're going to draw different lines on the other field. Playing-wise, this is a nice field."
The entire controversy was made moot, however, by UMass' domination of play. Harvard's offense never got a chance to benefit from the smaller field because it seldom had control of the ball long enough to mount a legitimate drive on goal.
Since the Minutemen tallied just over four minutes into the contest--and piled on the four additional goals in the next 34 minutes--the hosts' three actual shots on UMass freshman netminder Jan Holland weren't about to make much of a difference, anyway.
"This game was lopsided, but UMass has had a lot of lopsided games," Scalise said. "UMass might be a step above the rest--that's the power of scholarships."
The Crimson has nothing but league games remaining on its schedule--beginning with an 11 a.m. start against 19th-ranked Princeton Saturday--as it sets its sights firmly on the Ivy crown.
"If we learn a little from it [yesterday's loss], learn what it means to play at UMass' level, we can come away with a positive experience," Scalise said.
"Princeton is coming up. We just played UMass--they're playing Columbia, which lost 12-0 to Dartmouth," he added. "Some people might be feeling sorry for themselves now; the question is whether we can build on this game."
Minutemen, 5-0
at Soldier's Field Scoring: M, Chris Schmitt (unassisted) 4:45; M, Debbie Belkin (Kristen Bowsher) 12:00; M, Catherine Spence (Schmitt) 23:10; M, Bowsher (Michelle Powers) 31:55; M, Spence (Catherine Cassady) 38:50 Saves: M, Jan Holland, 3; H, Tracee Whitley, 9