It was the last Harvard women's lacrosse home game of the year, and the usual 100 or so fans descended on Ohiri Field to watch their team take on UMass.

But something would be different this day. Taped up to the bleachers for the adjacent men's field, there was a sheet--an unmistakable blot against the gray sky.

"Good luck seniors!" it read. "Super-sassy Sarah Winters! Megacool Megan Colligan! Groovin' Genevieve Chelius! You're the best!"

Did a friend put it up? A teammate? Maybe a roommate?

All of the above.

Meet the residents of Eliot I-52: Winters, Colligan, Chelius and senior Beth morgan--the latter being the perpetrator of the aforementioned deed. All play varsity sports. Up to this year, three played multiple varsity sports. All were elected captains last year.

morgan and Chelius are co-captains of the women's soccer team. Colligan and Winters were co-captain-elects of the field hockey team (although Winters decided not to play this year). And Chelius and Colligan are co-captains of the women's lacrosse team, with Winters providing extra senior support.

There are enough varsity letters in this room to bring you Sesame Street for a decade and enough memories to occupy Ken Burns for almost as long.

Before even the freshmen invade the yard dorms, the fall sports are practicing for the new season. And one of those sports in the women's soccer team.

For the Crimson, a bumper crop of recruits came into Cambridge, including the likes of freshmen Emily Stauffer, Keren Gudeman, Kristen Bowes and Dana Krein. The first three were 1-2-3 on the team in scoring, while Krein was Crimson's NO. 1 goaltender.

With all this young talent, the role that Megan and Chelius would need to play became clear. They had to form this bunch of people into a team bent on winning.

The two of them went about it in different ways. Chelius was more of the fiery, rev'-em-up type of leader, while Megan emphasized the team's spirit more.

"Genevieve was a lot more vocal than I'd ever be," Megan says. "That's never been my guiding thing. I'd be more inclined to put up sings in the locker room."

In other words, they complemented each other. When a player needed to be get tough, Chelius was there. If the team needed bonding, Megan could do that.

But as the season went on, they realized that both styles were necessary, and that they could both learn from each other. Megan became more fired up, and Chelius understood that it was important to keep up the team's spirit.