The Columbia women's soccer program has only been around for six years.

Its coach, Shawn Ladda, is in her fourth year with the Lions.

In the past two meetings between the teams, Harvard whipped the Lions 6-0 and 5-0.

Columbia, in two games this year, has been defeated 2-0 by Cornell and 3-1 by St. John's.

Harvard boasts a talented team that could challenge for the Ivy title.

Catch the drift?

Despite the odds, the Lions are eagerly anticipating today's matchup with the Crimson.

"You won't be seeing a blowout like the last two games. It's gonna be tough," Ladda warned. "Our team is playing well. They're looking forward to the challenge."

While the Lions can only hope for an upset, the Crimson squad has a definite goal for this game.

"We want to play 90 minutes of intense soccer," Co-Captain Amy Weinstein said. "That has been our problem, especially against UNH."

"If we can play hard for 90 minutes, we should win the game," Weinstein said.

Co-Captain Robin Johnston, who scored a record four goals against Columbia the last time the two teams played, hinted at the Crimson game plan.

"We're going to return to our basic, uptempo game," Johnston said. "Against UNH, we got too fancy, and lost control. That won't happen this time."

"This is Ivy League play now," the senior forward said. "These games are very important. As far as we're concerned, our first two games were warmups."

Ladda has assembled a wellbalanced, team-oriented squad for the Crimson to contend with.