"Both [Yale and Brown] are pretty good defensively," Davis said. "The key is that we have to pounce on them early."
"Brown has height; that's something we don't have," Gettelman said. "Their forwards don't have the speed that ours do, but they're unpredictable, which is dangerous."
Despite the caveats, the prevailing mood is one of excitement.
This championship season is a last hurrah for senior veterans Davis, Gettelman, Amy Reinhard and Elizabeth Proudfit; it also marks the beginning of a new era in Harvard's promising five freshmen.
The freshmen have certainly absorbed the significance of these games and the emotional investment that they represent.
"It's so exciting to come into a school and be on the Ivy League championship team," Miller said. "The senior class is absolutely incredible; their leadership is tremendous."
"You really catch on to what they [the seniors] are feeling," Janowski said. "You can tell with the intensity that everyone plays with in practice that these games are really important."
The games represent the same dream for seniors and freshmen alike.
"We want to win the Ivy title, not share it," Black said.