The Harvard women's soccer team is competing in its first post-season tournament since 1984.

Today, the second-seeded Crimson plays sixth-seeded James Madison University in the ECAC semifinals.

Sounds like a blowout?

Try again. James Madison is better than its seeding gives it credit.

On Thursday, JMU pulled off a major upset, defeating third-seeded New Hampshire. And it wasn't even close, as the UNH Wildcats lost, 2-0.

Harvard is suddenly wary of this unexpectedly strong team, and rightly so.

"They're a pretty good team," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. "They're very athletic, and solid across the board."

But Wheaton admitted that he was surprised at the upset.

"I expected UNH to win, but any team is going to be tough at this level," Wheaton said.

While Harvard is reacting slowly, James Madison Coach Dave Lombardo has his team going full throttle.

"We're going to let [Harvard] worry about us, not the other way around," Lombardo said. "They can chase us all day long."

Cocky, yes, but Lombardo has a powerful team to back him up.

The foremost strengths of James Madison are its youth and speed. The team starts eight freshmen and sophomores, and there are only two seniors on the entire squad.

Its other strength is team speed. Lombardo has made speed the focus of his entire game, and has built offense and defense around the need for speed.

"We're better when we can run," Lombardo said. "With our speed, our strategy is to keep opposing defenses puzzled."