The Harvard women's lacrosse team came within one goal of winning the NCAA crown last year. This year, with several outstanding players lost to graduation and an unproven group of players beyond the first line of stars, Harvard is...

The Harvard women's lacrosse team celebrated the first momentous occasion of its 1993 season with only orange juice and a bag of bagels.

Coach Carole Kleinfelder served up the impromptu breakfast to celebrate the Crimson's last 7:00 morning practice. And although the team seemed content with the reward, it could have asked for more.

A lot more. Remember who this team is.

Harvard women's lacrosse...1990 NCAA Champions and NCAA finalists for three of the last four years...perennial.

powerhouse...ranked second nationally in a pre-season poll and favored to sweep the league title for the 13th straight year.

In other words, this is a team that continually displays its best--and consequently, deserves the best.

But even after coming within one goal of winning the NCAA title last season, this team doesn't expect much more than boiled bread and squeezed fruit.

High expectations and sweeping pronouncements are being put aside. It's back to basics for Harvard this year.

Fixing a Hole

The first problem is filling the gaping hole left by last year's graduating class.

Harvard reluctantly wished good luck to Elizabeth "Buffy" Hansen (second team All-Ivy attacker), Becky Gaffney (second team All-Ivy defender) and Ceci Clark (two-time All-American, 1992 NCAA Defensive Player of the Year and four-year starter).

Perhaps the emptiest void to be filled--or at least the most noticeable--is the one left by goalie Sarah Leary, a first-team All-Ivy selection, two-time All-American and Harvard legend.

And while senior Co-Captains Liz Berkery and Rachel Burke are more than qualified to step in and lead this year's team, the rest of the squad consists of underclassmen.

"The team is in very good hands in terms of leadership with the seniors, Liz and Rachel," Kleinfelder said. "They work hard and care about the team. But the junior class really needs to step up and come through. This is definitely their year."

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."

Weekend Tourney

But for right now, Harvard just wants to open its season on a positive note at the William and Mary Tournament this weekend.

And it's a long way to an Ivy or NCAA title--but if Harvard continues to uphold its tradition of dominance, the celebrations won't stay low-key for long.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE: '93 SCHEDULE

1/6-7at William and Mary Tournament

3/10  Massachusetts  3:30 p.m.

3/17  at Boston College  7:00 p.m.

3/20  Pennsylvania  1:00 p.m.

3/24  Temple  3:30 p.m.

3/27  at Princeton  1:00 p.m.

3/30  at Old Dominion  3:00 p.m.

4/3  at Maryland  7:30 p.m.

4/7  tYale  3:00 p.m.

4/10  Loyola (Md.)  1:00 p.m.

4/14  at New Hampshire  3:00 p.m.

4/17  Vermont  1:00 p.m.

4/18  Rutgers  1:00 p.m.

4/21  at Brown  3:00 p.m.

4/24  at Cornell  11:00 a.m.

4/27  Dartmouth  3:00 p.m.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE

Coach: Carol Kleinfelder.

Captains: Liz Berkery, Rachel Burke

1992 Overall Record: 14-2

1992 Ivy Record: 6-0