How does a player make the transition from benchwarmer to team captain?

Ask Harvard field hockey Co-Captains Anne Kelly and Alicia Clifton.

In the three years and 45 games before this season, the senior leaders of this year's Crimson squad saw a lot of field hockey action. But most of it came while sitting on the bench.

"We called our class the Bench Busters because we never played," Clifton says.

But that class, which also includes midfielder Bambi Taylor and forward Linda Runyon, has exchanged its seats on the bench for the somewhat less comfortable (but certainly more exciting) standing--and running--room of the playing field.

And although this year's Harvard team boasts only a 3-8-3 record (2-2-1 Ivy), it has played competitively with seven of the nation's top-ranked teams.

Harvard is now tied with Yale (7-6-1 overall, 2-2-1 Ivy) for second place in the Ivy League. The two teams meet tomorrow in New Haven, Conn., in a game that will determine second place in the league. Penn has already clinched the title.

"It would be awesome if we could beat Yale," Clifton says.

The Elis hold a slim 4-3-5 advantage over the Crimson in the series. But what is particularly irksome to Clifton and Kelly is that in its last three meetings, Harvard has not beaten Yale. In that span, the Elis have escaped with a win and two ties--including a 0-0 deadlock with the Cantabs in 1983 that prevented Harvard from winning its first Ivy League championship.

"We could have gone to the NCAA ournament if we hadn't tied them," Kelly says.

Although a tournament bid is out of the question for this year's squad, a solid finish against an old rival is within the realm of possibility.

And whether the stickwomen finish with a bang or a whimper depends in large part on Kelly and Clifton.

"Annie's a quiet leader while Alicia's a spirited leader," says Harvard Assistant Coach Sue Caples. "But they both complement each other very well."

The two elder statesmen must rally the young Crimson team which has played both brilliantly--in a 2-0 victory over Dartmouth--and pathetically--in a 3-1 drubbing at fifth-ranked UMass earlier in the season.

But if anyone can turn around Harvard's recent misfortunes against Yale, it is Kelly and Clifton.