The Harvard men's lacrosse team knew it would be in for a tough time yesterday when it took on the fifth-ranked University of Massachusetts at Ohiri Field.

But it didn't expect to have to shoot past a brick wall.

Of the Crimson's 39 shots on Minuteman goalie Sal LoCascio, only three got past him for goals, enabling UMass to take a 9-3 victory over Harvard in front of 150 spectators.

As a result of the setback, the Crimson (now 7-3 overall, 3-2 Ivy League) saw its chances of garnering a bid to the NCAA tournament shrink severely.

"[LoCascio] has to be the best goalie in the nation right now," Harvard Coach Bob Scalise said, "and today he seemed to be particularly hot. Throughout the game we got shots, but when they didn't start going in we got impatient and began to force our offense."

"UMass also played a very smart game on defense," Scalise added. "They denied us the inside pass and forced us to shoot from the outside. But while we would score a few from 12 yards against most goalies, this one shut us down."

Although their defense sparkled all day, the Minutemen's offense had a strong game as well, highlighted by the play of Scott Hiller and Tom Carmean. Hiller finished with five points in the game, and Carmean backed him up with four of his own, tallying three goals and two assists.

Of Hiller's five points, four came on goals. He notched his final three scores in the final quarter, with the last one--coming with only 2:53 remaining--marking the first time this season that any opposing player has scored four times against Harvard.

"We haven't seen anybody shoot as well as Hiller all year," Scalise said. "Without he and LoCascio, the game becomes a one-goal contest."

The Minutemen came into the contest averaging more than 15 goals per game. Since Harvard has scored that many only twice all season, the Crimson attempted to slow the pace of the game in order to stay within striking distance.

The patience strategy worked nicely for the first quarter, as the teams traded unassisted goals to make it 1-1 after 15 minutes. UMass tallied first on a solo effort by Chris Zusi, but Harvard fought right back three minutes later when sophomore Steve Lux spun past his defender and shot the ball past LoCascio to even things up.

But in the second quarter, the Minutemen were able to break the game open with three goals in four minutes, including two just 41 seconds apart.

After halftime, UMass continued its scoring spurt with two more unanswered goals, and halfway through the third quarter the Crimson found itself on the short end of a 6-1 score.

With just 28 seconds remaining in the third period, however, Brad Raymond tallied off a pass from Lux--who was involved in all three Harvard scores--to bring the Crimson back to within four.

But then Hiller began to take charge of the game, throwing in two unassisted goals, exactly six minutes apart to make it 8-2. Lux tallied on an unassisted move for his second goal of the game with 6:23 left, but Hiller's fourth goal three minutes later eliminated any Harvard hopes of a comeback.

Saturday Showdown

The Crimson must now face Adelphi in a Saturday match-up at Ohiri Field, but the competition dosen't get any easier; Adelphi defeated nationally ranked Syracuse by a decisive 19-9 margin.

And Harvard is in a must-win situation. Just ask Scalise: "The only chance we have of getting a bid to the NCAA tournament is to win the rest of our games. We have to start on that goal on Saturday."