If the Cowardly Lion really wanted some nerves, he should have gone to some Harvard women's lacrosse games. Loyola  5 Harvard  6

After falling behind number-six Loyola 4-0 in the first 14 minutes of yesterday's game at Ohiri Field, the 11th-ranked Crimson didn't get demoralized, intimidated or bewildered. Instead, Harvard roared back to tie the game in the latter stages of the second half and won on junior midfielder Megan Hall's goal 55 seconds into overtime.

"When we were down it was only 10 minutes into the game," co-captain Genevieve Chilies (nine ground balls) said. "We knew we had 50 minutes left."

Not that Harvard (4-2 overall, 1-2 Ivy) wasted any time. After Loyola (6-3) co-captain Jeanne Harrington completed her hat trick 13:58 into the game, the Crimson went to work. Co-captain Megan Colligan, sophomore attacker Lindsay Davison and senior midfielder Sarah Winters each tallied goals; Winters' came with only eight seconds left in the half.

The second period was a defensive stalemate for 17:58 until sophomore attacker Liz Schoyer crept up on Loyola goaltender Dana Hoffman's left side and rifled the ball over her head to tie the game. The Greyhounds broke the 4-0 Crimson run with a score by Betsy Given, but Winters knocked in her second goal of the day to send the game into overtime.

In the extra stanza, Hall bounced in a 12-footer to give Harvard its first lead of the game, and Crimson sophomore goalie Kate Schutt blanked the Greyhounds, picking up two of her 15 saves in overtime.

The comeback was complete.

However, if any of the 174 fans in attendance had been told early on that Harvard would tie Loyola--much less hold it to five goals--most of them would have laughed at the notion.

"[In the beginning] it was tough," Schutt said. "I let the first two in right away--they were really fluke goals. I knew that it wasn't going to be indicative of the rest of the game."

The Greyhounds' first tally was a loose ball that happened to be picked up by Loyola's Kerri Johnson, who whipped it past the surprised Schutt only 37 seconds into the game.

The next three tallies were off the stick of Harrington. Numbers one and two came from free positions, and the third resulted from a breakaway in which Harrington simply cut right through the Crimson defense.

At that point it was 4-0, and Harvard knew it was going to have to get some defense or get killed.

"Our attack was too slow to get back," Chelius said. "But we had great communication, and we kept our composure."

From that point on, the Crimson's defense took over. No Loyola player could set foot in the shooting area without getting her stick checked, and the Harvard players always seemed to come up with the loose ground balls.

The numbers tell it all--Harvard didn't allow any goals over the next 40 minutes and only one over the next 52.