The schedule says that the next Harvard women's lacrosse game is Saturday against Yale. But the Crimson is looking beyond that contest, to lacrosse's version of The Game.

Next Wednesday, Harvard will welcome Dartmouth to Soldiers Field. Last year, this game decided the Ivy League title. This year, it probably will do the same.

With a victory over a stumbling Yale squad, the Crimson would be in a position to snag its sixth Ivy crown in nine years against the Big Green. Dartmouth broke Harvard's string of five consecutive league championships when it bested the Crimson, 10-9, in Hanover, N.H., last year.

"We have to get up for Yale," Harvard attack Leelee Groome said. "Yale is always a big game. But what we're really doing is preparing for Dartmouth."

The Crimson has already faced the bulk--and the bruisers--of its schedule. Harvard beat Brown, 14-8, in Providence, R.I., and then traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., three days later and promptly felled previously undefeated Cornell, 15-4.

"We're playing well ever since Brown and Cornell," Groome said. "It's how you finish that counts."

The Crimson would like to finish with a solid triumph over Dartmouth.

"I have a t-shirt that my roommate got me from Dartmouth," Harvard Captain Kelly McBride said. "It's a Dartmouth lacrosse t-shirt that says 'Ivy League Champions' and has all the players' names written on it."

"I think I'm going to wear it to practice next Monday," McBride added, "and after practice, we can burn it."

An Ivy League Championship would not guarantee the Crimson a bid in the ECAC playoffs, a year-long goal of the team. Harvard fell to UMass, 10-8, in early April and this defeat--combined with a 12-9 loss to Maryland at the beginning of the season--may keep the Crimson out of post-season action.

But first things first.

"We're looking as far ahead as Dartmouth," Harvard attack Kate Felsen said. "We have two more games, and our game with Dartmouth is the biggest."

Scoring Stars

McBride pumped in three goals yesterday in the Crimson's 10-4 triumph over Boston University. McBride, the Ivy League's leading scorer last year with 24 goals, now sits atop Harvard's goals-scored chart with 30. She is averaging nearly two-and-a-half goals a game.

Felsen leads the team in overall scoring with 28 goals and 14 assists for 42 points. McBride is second with 39 points.