It was case of too little, too late in the Harvard men's lacrosse team at Massachusetts-Amherst on Wednesday.

Even though the game sported lots of heart-pumping offense and an almost-successful, last-ditch comeback effort, the Minutemen downed the Crimson 18-17.

"It was quite a barn-burner," sophomore forward Mike Eckert said.

The game was an offensive showcase from the beginning. Ten goals were scored in the first five minutes of play and Harvard--which had scored six and seven goals, respectively, in its last two games--had six goals at the half.

But the barn really didn't start burning until about five minutes left in the game.

The Crimson, facing a 18-12 deficit, exploded at that point as Chris Wojcik, Jamie Ames and Eckert connected for five straight goals.

Harvard, however, could no get possesion after Eckert scored a dramatic goal with 20 seconds remaining. Time expired with Harvard frantically trying to get the ball in their offensive end.

"We shot the lights out," junior Jamie Ames said. "We were pretty much scoring at will. Their goalies only had eight saves for the entire game."

Ames finished with a career-high five goals and one assist, while Eckert and Wojcik added three and five goals, respectively.

Harvard could only shoot the lights out when we could get the ball. Possession, a thorn in the Crimson's side for most of the season, was again a problem.

"We had trouble getting it in our offensive zone," Ames said. "they had the ball much more than we did. it's something we have been working on in practice. We have gotten a lot better at it."

"They won 70 percent of the face offs," Eckert said, explaining the possession problem. "That gave them a little more possesion time if we had won 50 percent of the face-offs, I think we would have won the game."

The Crimson haven't been the same on the face-off since Pat McCulloch went down with a shoulder injury, Ames said.

Injuries or not, Harvard faces Ivy League arch-rival Yale in New Haven, C.T. on Saturday.

"I think we're a pretty even match up both offensively and defensively," Eckert said. "It will come down to who can control the ball in the offensive zone and who makes fewest mistakes."

Notes... Brown (4-0 Ivy League, 6-4 overall) remained undefeated in the Ancient Eight last week. The eighth-ranked Bears knocked off host Pennsylvania 13-9.

Princeton (3-1 Ivy, 7-1 overall) still registers on the Ivy League radar screen. The second ranked Tigers lost a 7-6 war to Brown in New Jersey.

Harvard's 1-2 league record is good enough for a tie with Yale for fourth place in the Ivy League.

Mike Eckert continues to lead the Crimson in scoring this season. The sophomore has complied 12 goals and an eye-popping 27 assists in eight games. He has been accurate on 26.7 percent of his shots attempted this season.

Senior captain Mike Porter and sophomore Chris Wojcik follow Eckert on the scoring list. Porter leads the team in goals scored with 17.

Crimson senior Matt Camp has taken over starting netminder duties over the last three games from freshman Rob Lyng.

Camp has stopped 59 shots on the year and has a 15 goals against average.