Last week, when the rest of the student body was away or trying to get away, the Harvard women's lacrosse team dove into the heart of its season.

The Crimson (1-1 Ivy, 5-1 overall), fell to the Tigers of Princeton on defeat Old Dominion, 13-8, and Temple 10-5.

All three teams were ranked in the Top 15 nationally, and Harvard now sits at number 4.

The showcase game for the Crimson was certainly the matchup with the Tigers. Last season, Princeton defeated Harvard 9-7, as both teams would go on to the Final Four.

This year, Harvard was determined to get revenge.

"It was probably one of the more competitive games we'll see this year," Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "We certainly had our chances to win this game."

The Tigers staked themselves out to an early lead when Princeton's Amory Rowe scored back-to-back goals at the 26:46 and 24:57 marks, respectively. Then Tiger attacker Lisa Rebane scored a goal of her own to put Princeton up 3-0 barely seven minutes into the game.

But Harvard came roaring back. Emily Buxton and Jo-anne Alissi both scored only 22 seconds apart of to cut the lead to 3-2 at halftime.

Kleinfelder was pleased with her team's resolve.

"Last year we played Princeton and did not play well," Kleinfelder said. "This year we came out and played tough."

However, Princeton scored two more goals in the opening minutes of the second half to widen the gap to 5-2. Harvard answered with two goals of their own, but was not able to complete the comeback.

The four goal output from the Harvard offense was a definite change from the previous average of 15.

"We had all of our weaknesses exposed," junior Megan Colligan said. "Our transition game was not there at all."

Harvard was then able to bounce back against Old Dominion. The Crimson jumped out to a 7-2 halftime lead, and was able to hold the lead in the second half.

"We did play a good game," Kleinfelder said. "The defense played very well."

Junior Sarah Winters paced the Crimson with four goals, all in the second half.

"We were just stronger than them," sophomore Sara Noonan said.

Friday's game against Temple was a closer affair, with the score tied at five with only 10 minutes left in the mach. But then the Crimson went on a five-goal rampage to win the game.

"Temple was better athletically than [Old Dominion]," Colligan said. "They gave us a good run for our money."

Winters again led the team with four goals, and senior Sarah Downing had two.

"Early in the game we got sloppy," Kleinfelder said. "Then we put our heads together and played well."

A bright spot for Harvard during the week was the play of the defense and freshman goaltender Kate Schutt.

Most of the defenders are back from last season, and so the Crimson have some of the best and most experienced players at that position.

But Schutt has played better than any freshman can be expected to, with a goals against average of 4.83 and a save percentage of 62.8.

"Kate is hanging in there," Kleinfelder said. "It's kind of baptism by fire."