The agony is nearly over. The Harvard men's lacrosse team has only one more day in purgatory, at Dartmouth Wednesday.

But the agony is becoming greater as the end draws near.

Four days after suffering a 21-9 defeat at the hands of New Hampershire, the laxmen (3-10) closed out their home schedule at Ohiri Field Saturday, with a crushing 16-4 loss to Adelphi University.

The contest surpassed even that surpassed even that UNH contest in lopsidedness.

There was one bright spot for the Crimson. The laxmen, escaping the curse of inflecting first period clearing and defense that left them playing catch up in each of their last six defeats, trailed Adelphi by just 3-2 after the first period.

After Tom Corcoran notched a goal just five seconds into the game, the outlook was bright for the Cantabs, who had won the last three games in which they scored first.

Three consecutive Adelphi tallies dimmed the Crimson hopes, but attacker Peter Follows brought Harvard right back into it with a score with 2:41 left in the first.

If only the Crimson could have followed the competitive first period with one of its usually excellent second halves, the game could have been its second upset victory in three contests rather than a devastating defeat.

One thing destroyed that plan: the second period.

After clearing effectively and controlling the crease in the opening quarter, the laxmen let down in both of those crucial areas in the second quarter.

Adelphi shot a salvo of three goals into the Crimson net in the first 2:10 of the second. Chris Pujols strove to but the tide with a goal, but to no avail.

Adelphi responded with a pair of easy goals--twice the visitors found men all alone in front of the Harvard net. Another score gave Adelphi a 9-3 halftime lead and stunned the Crimson into submission.

The Cantabs failed on seven of 13 clears to one of 10 for Adelphi in playing one of the most dismal periods of their season.

The Harvard attack responded to the second-quarter defensive lapses with ineffective second period play of its own, taking just four shots to 18 for Adelphi.

No late game heroics followed the disastrous second quarter, as Adelphi outscored the dazed Crimson, 7-1, over the last 30 minutes to clinch an easy victory.

The visitors dominated the Crimson across the board, out-shooting it 47 to 25, winning 14 faceoffs to its 10, and clearing 29 of 37 to just 21 of 35 for the laxmen.