The past is a hard thing to shake.

In 1990, the Harvard men's lacrosse team had its best season ever, advancing to the quarter finals of the NCAA tournament. For the juniors and seniors, that season is the standard by which they measure success.

But, at the same time, the Crimson has another, much darker memory to confront. Last season, Harvard opened up the year with an 11-8 loss to a less-than-spectacular C.W. Post team, and the season just got more frustrating with every game.

Harvard went 3-10 and tied for fifth (2-5) in the Ivies. Needless to say, the Crimson learned how to measure disappointment.

With those two contrasting season firmly in its mind, the team is looking for a mixture of experience and youth this year to help write a successful beginning to a new season.

Players said the team is concentrating fully on the present and trying to take advantage of all the new players and new looks.

"This year we're a lot more up beat, and we just want to get it going," senior goalie Chris Miller said.

Senior defender Pete Welch said that the team's optimistic attitude has a lot to do with the youth on the team.

"I'm very excited about the fresh blood this year," Senior defender Pete Welch. "They're really impressive."

Fifteen freshmen join the Crimson this season, including high school All-Americans Pat Marvin, Steven Gaffney and Michael Todd.

Offense was a big problem for Harvard last year, but the addition of young explosive players to the attack and midfield lines should give the crimson a boost.

"The freshmen are going to be a big Contribution this year," Co-Captain Paul Faust said. "They've adjusted to the higher level of play and are fitting into the team well."

Harvard Coach Scott Anderson said that the team's success will depend on how well the younger players perform.

"The biggest problem last year was our inability to score," Anderson said. "That's where our youth will fit in this year."

"It's hard for me to gauge how [the freshman] will react to a Division I level of play," Anderson said. "And I don't want to put too much pressure on the freshmen."

Anderson added that with the amount of youth on the team this season, leadership from Co-Captains Faust and Brian Connolly will be extremely important.

"The captains have a lot of natural leadership ability, and I think that we can rely on them," Anderson said.

The Strength

Harvard's biggest strength this year is defense, as the Crimson returns all of last season's starters, including senior goalie Chris Miller who had a .627 save percentage in Ivy League play last year.

"The defense has to be very solid and Chris Miller is a given," Anderson said."

Miller has played between the twines for the past three seasons and the team will look to him to anchor a defense that will start three other seniors--Mike Taukus, Mike Kramer and Dennis Murphy.

With five junior defenders as well, the team has the depth at defense that it has not had for a long time.

Last year, fatigue played a big role in hampering the Crimson's performance. Double-shift practices in February, coupled with a lack of team depth, wore the Crimson out early, and made a difficult schedule even more brutal.

Miller said a lot of different people should be seeing time this year, and extra substitutions should help keep the team fit for the long haul.

"It's a big advantage when the same three players don't have to play the whole game," Miller said.

Harvard's depth, however, does not extend to the offense, and the Crimson has lot many of last season's top players.

Scorers Gone

The team's top three scorers of 1991--attacker Mick Cavouti, and midfielders Tim Reilly and Dan O'Sullivan--have all graduated, leaving a mammoth offensive void. The three players combined for 56 of the team 123 goals and 51 out of 61 assists.

With those players gone, optimism is one thing, but the crimson has to find an answer to the looming question that threatens the team's success.

"What we don't have at the moment is people who can go hard to the goal," Anderson said. "Some players may develop that ability, but right now we don't have it."

The freshmen can provide an instant offensive boost, but the question is whether it will be enough.

Harvard has already played a pre-season scrimmage against Hofstra which it lost 10-5. Of course, it didn't help that the team was on a bus for four hours before the game and that the temperature was below freezing on the field.

The scrimmage did give the younger players the opportunity to warm things up, however, as freshman midfielder/attacker Spencer Rice fired in three goals while midfielder Marvin came up with an assist.

Harvard opens its season against C.W. Post this Saturday in Hempstead, N.Y. The first home game will be March 14 against Cornell.