Your legs ache. Your knees are about to buckle. The stick is like a heavy weight in your hands. You cannot possibly go on. But you do.

Ask any Harvard women's ice hockey player about fatigue late in the game. The Crimson has learned a lot about being tired this season.

"I try and make myself not notice it, because you don't have a choice," junior Co-Captain Joey Alissi said. "You're legs get so tired. They get numb. We're in such good shape. It's only the second half of the third period that we start losing it. As good shape as you're in, you'll get tired."

A young, talented team, the Crimson suffered injury, sickness and a shortage of womanpower, and consequently lived through a taxing season of losses that were tough and wins that were inspiring but infrequent.

While the team continually exuded pride, unity and optimism, it was actually checked in its efforts by continual fatigue. When games came down to clutch time, the opponent was able to insert fresh players off the bench, while the Crimson could only summon up reserves of individual strength and adrenaline.

With only 12 players on its roster, Harvard had many fewer skaters than its opponents. Princeton has, by comparison, 23 players on its roster. Brown and St. Lawrence each have 21.

Whereas other teams utilized three or more lines in the offensive rotation, Harvard survived with two. On defense, the Crimson rotated only three players, so that defenders had little time for breathers.

The team made the best of the difficult situation and did not complain, but by all indications the player shortage showed in the standings.

Harvard finished the season with a 7-14-2 mark, 4-5-1 in the Ivy League. An exciting late-season streak in which the Crimson won two of three games against Ivy foes Yale and defending league champion Princeton was all but forgotten in the wake of a 4-1 loss to Dartmouth and an ECAC first-round playoff drubbing, 9-1, by Providence.

One statistic, perhaps, tells the whole story. In its 23 game season Harvard finished with eight frustrating one-goal losses to New Hampshire, St. Laurent, Providence, Queen's College, Brown, Boston College, Northeastern and St. Lawrence. These opponents benefited from Harvard's inability to stay effective and competitive in the waning moments of its contests.

Oftentimes, as in the heartbreaking loss to Northeastern, the Crimson led the entire game only to break down in the final minutes. Against B.C., in the Beanpot consolation game, Harvard mounted a late rally to even the score, but was rebuffed a few minutes into overtime by a game-clinching B.C. goal.

In general, it was neither the best nor worst of times. The season, which often showed signs of future success for the young Crimson club, was distinguished above all by fatigue. The players refuse, however, to blame conditioning for the what they experience on the ice. They also cite team spirit as a motivating factor which overcame opposing teams' superior strength in numbers and talent.

"We're all in the best shape we've been in, hockey-wise," Alissi said. "Some days you come out flat and can't get your legs going. If your legs aren there, it's hard to get them going. When we play back-to-back [games] that's not easy.

"So much of what we do, it comes from the heart. Let's be honest, some of the teams have superior talent, but we outhustle them."

Both Alissi and Co-Captain Kim Landry mentioned the Northeastern game as an example, in which Harvard led 2-0 with three minutes left but began to play defensively. Northeastern subsequently scored twice, then completed the tremendous comeback with a goal 50 seconds into overtime.

"Some of the hardest moments have been overtimes, especially against Northeastern," Landry said. "I think fatigue was definitely a factor there. We just don't have the rush of energy to generate shots on goal.

"We'll throw it into their zone and we won't be able to attack and put pressure on them."

"In terms of conditioning, that's really not much more we can do. We sprint hard...we lift weights," Landry said. "When you don't have the numbers to put three or four lines, people are gonna get fatigued. Pretty much every game, you're gonna have a shift where you want to get off."

While Harvard had to wrestle with its own fatigue, the opponent was able to lift its play to another level. Like an exhausted 400-meter runner, Harvard would "hit the wall" as the other team sprinted to victory.

"[Northeastern] could turn on the energy right at the end and we couldn't," Alissi said.

Just how tiring is it for the Crimson women? Players admit to soreness after games, but do not recognize a more than usual amount of fatigue during games.

"I know that I get slower as the game progresses, but I don't consciously realize it because you don't have time to think about it," Alissi said.

But the Crimson's problems were greater than just slowing down as the game progressed. The team had an unfortunate habit of losing its overall aggressiveness at the end of games. Its attacking play in the first and second periods gave way to a more conservative trend in the third in order to conserve energy.

"Our second period play could match any team. It was the best we played," junior defender Francie Walton said. "Every third period, though, everyone got exhausted. The attack was forechecking less aggressively. The defense was more hesitant to attack the puck as well.

"I think [fatigue] caused the defense not to hold on to the puck as much, to play more defensively so that we pace ourselves," Walton said.

The fatigue affected not only the defense, but the teamwork of the offense.

"As soon as you make a bad play, they can capitalize on it," forward Alissi said. "You're tired and so you make a pass [on offense] that you wouldn't normally make and they intercept it."

Harvard Coach John Dooley, while distressed by these trends, drew on his eternal optimism to deliver upbeat pep talks between periods.

"Coach tries to psyche us up between the second and third," Landry said. "I think the expression he used is 'fresh as a daisy.'

This season was not ultimately successful in the win-loss column for the Crimson skaters. But with only one senior graduating, and many promising young returnees, Harvard hopes to improve next year.

The silver lining to this season's shortage of players was that the team became tight-knit because of its smaller size.

"We're definitely a close unit," Walton said. "It's been really fun. No one has been complaining about ice time. Our small number has done a lot for our spirit. I definitely think this is the most cohesive team unit. No one person is expected to do it all."

The team's closeness has ultimately made the season a positive experience in spite of the losing record.

"No one on our team is really used to losing. They came from winning programs," Alissi said. "I think our attitude has been able to carry us through, though. We're a small team and we're all pretty close. It's been a very positive experience for everyone, although we haven't been winning. Our attitudes have been incredible. I give everyone credit for that."