Among the eight juniors on this season's squad are two second-team All-American selections: All-Ivy defender Francie Walton and All-Ivy midfielder Sarah Downing.

Junior Margot McAnaney--who garnered an All-Ivy honorable mention last year--is also cited as a defensive power.

Beyond the juniors are the sophomores, who will have to provide the depth and quality play a championship team needs. Eight juniors and two seniors, after all, can only do so much.

The biggest challenge for the sophomore class is in goal, where Rebecca Ewing and converted defender Liz Williamson are competing for starting honors.

Along with oft-mentioned sophomore midfielder Sarah Winters and freshmen Megan Hall, Erin Cleary and Maria Hennessy, Kleinfelder has a lot of young talent on which to build.

"Hopefully, the sophomores will surprise us as well," Kleinfielder said. We have some hidden talent that's yet to be tapped. The potential is definitely there for another good run at an Ivy championship."

The veteran coach noted, however, that competition in the Ancient Eight will be especially fierce this year, with five Ivy teams in the national top 15: Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown and Cornell all received national preseason rankings (see box this page).

"The Ivy League is stronger nationally than it's ever been," Berkery said. "We have our work cut out for us."

The Young and the Improving

This is not to say that the Crimson hasn't already experienced notable improvement, even from the superior level of the phenomenal 1992 team.

Most importantly, Harvard's lack of experience at goal could be overcompensated for by a young but experienced defense, and the Crimson's fast break game has also been cited as a definite strength.

"I think that this team will be very good when we come together," Burke said.

But, as Kleinfelder put it, "first things first"--Harvard needs to get out of the astroturfed confines of Briggs Cage and onto grassy Ohiri field to fully develop its potential.

"We definitely want to take every thing one step at a time," Burke said. "That sounds like a generic response, but it's true in our case--once we get out on the field, our goals will become more concrete.

"Right now, we don't know realistically what to expect."