Before the game, the numbers--those small black numerals on the sports pages--favored the Harvard women's lacrosse team.

After the game, the numbers--those globs of yellow light on the scoreboard--favored the University of Massachusetts.

Harvard took its number seven national ranking to Amherst yesterday, but fell behind early in the second half to number nine UMass and never caught up. A pair of Char Joslin goals were not enough for the Crimson, which stumbled, 10-8.

"It was a miserable game," Harvard Captain Kelly McBride said. "They're not as good as they're supposed to be, but we played horrendous."

UMass took a 4-3 lead at the half, but the Crimson tied it up soon after. It was the closest Harvard would come, as the Minutewomen began to run away with the game, taking leads of 6-4 and 8-5. UMass attack Lisa Griswold accounted for over half of her team's goals and entertained the home crowd with dazzling moves to the net.

"We weren't cutting that well," Harvard attack Leelee Groome said, "we didn't play well and they were good. Griswold was really good."

"It was frustrating," Groome added, "because we needed a win. We didn't look terrible, but we were frustrated. No one had a really good game."

Harvard (3-2-1 overall) has had trouble against nationally-ranked clubs this year--the Crimson fell to top-ranked Temple, 10-2, last Saturday. On the other hand, Harvard is 2-0 in the Ivy League, and despite its youth (nine laxwomen are freshmen) the Crimson is favored to capture the league crown this year.

Last year, Harvard lost its final game of the season to Dartmouth, and the Big Green became champion for the first time.

While not looking beyond the Ivy League--four tough conference games remain--the Crimson has allowed itself to dream a little. Of the ECAC and NCAA tournaments.

A first-place finish in the Ivies would qualify the team for the ECAC Tournament, and a strong showing there would lift it into the national spotlight.

Yesterday's game was disappointing, but Harvard hopes not a portent of worse things to come.

"We have to grind down," Groome said, "or we're going to find ourselves in deep trouble."