Krein's backup--junior Phoebe Cummings--also has to miss the upcoming season due to injury. Thus, Harvard's goaltending situation looms as the team's only big question mark.

The competition at netminder will lie between freshmen Merideth Bagley and Jennifer Burney, who both have had strong training camps, according to Wheaton.

"It's a little disconcerting that we lost two goalies to injury, but the freshmen have been outstanding," Wheaton said. "I feel totally confident with either one."

The Schedule

It isn't hard to notice Harvard's biggest game of the season. The facts that it is against defending champion Brown, that it is against the 16th ranked team in the nation, that it starts under the lights at 7 p.m. on the road and that it again is the final regular season game make it hard to ignore.

"In practice, people say, 'Do these last two sprints for Brown,'" Stauffer said. "But consistency [in other games] is important."

Indeed. To make the Brown clash meaningful, Harvard cannot afford any letdowns, as it did in a season-opening 2-2 tie against a pathetic Columbia team despite outshooting the Lions by about 40 shots.

A road game at Fairfield this past Friday and a home contest this past Sunday (see sports page of Monday's Section A) opened the season, and the Crimson plays its next four contests on the grass at Ohiri Field.

The Crimson's Ivy League opener again comes against the mediocre Lions in the first game of the Harvard Invitational on September 22. Harvard faces Monmouth--a team that barely missed qualifying for the NCAA Tournament last year--two days later in its other game in that tournament.

From there, Harvard faces a slew of appetizingly beatable Ivy League and Northeastern teams before ending the regular campaign with its three toughest contests: October 28 at No. 19 Dartmouth, October 31 at No. 6 Connecticut and Brown.

Feeding time has commenced once again, and time will tell whether Harvard can finally digest its dinner.