SCHENECTADY, N.Y.--"It's the same old story, same old song and dance."

Aerosmith probably didn't write songs with the Harvard men's hockey team in mind, but after Saturday afternoon's 5-3 loss to Union (9-13-4 overall, 6-10-4 ECAC) at Achilles Rink, the Crimson (13-12-1, 11-8-1) seemed to be playing that old tune.

"Well, it's a similar theme," coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "We didn't play 60 minutes."

The Dutchmen entered Saturday afternoon's game having never beaten the Crimson in seven career battles, and the match took on added importance since it was the last home game for Union.

The afternoon contest began in the classic Harvard fashion: out-standing defense, with goalie Tripp Tracy coming up with a few superb saves while killing off a Union power play.

But soon, the walls would cave in.

Only six minutes into the game, Union's Russell Monteith cleaned up on a loose puck in front of Tracy on a Dutchman power play for a 1-0 Union lead.

Monteith was not finished exciting the unusually crowded Union arena; the sophomore would strike again. Streaking down the left side of the rink, Monteith beat the Crimson defender wide and deked Tracy for a 2-0 Union lead.

Just as Harvard was licking its wounds the nightmare got worse. Only 37 seconds after Monteith's second strike, Shane Holunga--a junior who had only scored two goals in 57 career games--rifled a shot from the right point that rattled off the upper corner of the net and in for a 3-0 Union lead.

The forecast only worsened for the Crimson, when senior Steve Martins was sidelined with a mysterious injury which would keep him out of action until a doctor cleared him to start the third period.

"I was just feeling light headed so they kept me out as a precaution," Martins said.

But as the first period wound down, Union would have one more strike at the Crimson.

Captain Cory Holbrough, playing in his last home game as a collegian, gave the Skating Dutchmen fans one more thrill on a two-on-one break for Union. The senior flipped the puck into the topright corner for a 4-0 Union lead.

The fourth goal caused Tomassoni to replace Tracy with senior Steve Hermsdorf in an attempt to ignite the team into action.

"I pulled [Tracy] at that time to see if we could light a spark amongst the rest of the team, but it certainly wasn't because Tripp played badly," Tomassoni said.