It's easy to be pessimistic about the Harvard women's lacrosse team this year.

Just look at the stats. The Crimson lost 45.7 percent of last year's goal scoring to graduation. Starting goaltender Kate Schutt and her roommate, midfielder Lindsay Davison, are taking the year off. And defenseman Sara Noonan has decided not to play this year.

This is all happening to a squad that is coming off an 8-5 record (2-4 Ivy), its worst marks in both categories since the early 1980's. Harvard also finished last season ranked No. 13 in the nation, which easily bumped the team from the six-team NCAA Tournament for the first time this decade.

But Harvard coach Carole Kleinfelder, who has seen everything in her 18 years at the Crimson's helm, isn't panicking. Yet.

"I think that you have to give this team a chance to get its own identity," she said. "I want to resist putting any sort of labels or expectations on them."

The rest of the nation, however, hasn't waited. In Lacrosse Magazine's 1996 Top 10 pre-season poll, the Crimson is unranked but received an unspecified number of votes.

Nevertheless, there is no reason to write off the team yet. Only 14 teams made it on anyone's votes in the aforementioned poll, meaning that Harvard is at worst No. 14 in the nation. Which is only a one-spot drop from last year.

So even with all the graduations and players taking years off, someone out there thinks Harvard is good.

Why? The fundamentals are as good as ever. The Crimson's stickhandling is still among the best in the nation, and many of those specialists are back. Junior Liz Schoyer tied for the team lead in ground balls with 42 and will be joined by senior Carrie Shumway, junior Chris Shortsleeve and junior co-captain Daphne Clark, all of whom had 29 or more ground balls.

Among its field players, all that Harvard lacks is a machine-gun scorer or a lightning-fast runner. A star.

"We're playing more as a unit," Clark said. "Our starting unit is a strong team."

For success in 1996, the Crimson must play carefully. Person for person, about every team will have more overall team speed. Thus, Harvard must not turn the ball over on transition and must operate as often as possible in the set offense, which will be the team's strength.

"We're hoping to carry the ball a lot on offense so the defense won't see as many shots," senior attacker Maria Hennessey said.

Besides Hennessey, senior Erin Cleary, co-captain Megan Hall and sophomore Sara Cable will lead the offense.

Another key for the season will be senior Shana Barghouti, who was Schutt's understudy at goaltender last year. Barghouti began playing lacrosse only a few years ago and is still inexperienced in front of the net, but her teammates believe she can handle the job.

The Ivy League won't be easy on her. The teams to beat this year include Princeton and Dartmouth, both of whom are ranked in the Top 10. Yale and Brown also have good, quick squads, and will ensure that the Ancient Eight is perhaps the most tightly-battled in the nation.

Harvard's first game, scheduled for today at home against B.C., was postponed to probably tomorrow afternoon in Chestnut Hill due to the snowy conditions and the fact that Harvard has no outdoor astroturf facilities.

The Crimson travel to UMass on Thursday and then have more than a week to prepare for Princeton, who comes to Cambridge on the first Saturday of spring break. NCAA POLL 1. Maryland (14)  140 2. Princeton  123 3. Penn State  96 4. James Madison  86 5. Dartmouth  63 6. Virginia  58 7. Temple  49 8. Loyola (Md.)  47 9. William & Mary  43 10. Old Dominion  19

Also receiving votes: Delaware, Georgetown, Harvard, Yale

Compiled by Lacrosse Magazine.

First-place votes are in parentheses, followed by total points. 1995 HARVARD STATS (Departing players in italics) Player  GP  G  A  Pts  TO  GB Sarah Winters  13  37  16  53  35  42 Megan Colligan  13  20  20  40  29  27 Genevieve Chelius  13  17  2  19  12  40 Erin Cleary  13  13  6  19  23  16 Maria Hennessey  10  9  9  18  16  18 Megan Hall  13  9  9  18  22  17 Carrie Shumway  13  10  5  15  24  32 Lindsay Davison  12  10  2  12  9  9 Mary Eileen Duffy  11  9  1  10  11  15 Liz Schoyer  13  5  1  6  20  42 Sara Cable  12  5  1  6  9  8 Holly Rogers  10  5  0  5  9  7 Chris Shortsleeve  13  3  2  5  13  30 Daphne Clark  13  3  2  5  5  29 Alexis Maybank  10  3  1  4  6  9 Sara Noonan  9  3  0  3  8  6 Katy Davis  4  1  0  1  1  3 Keren Gudeman  12  0  0  0  3  7 Honor McNaughton  3  0  0  0  5  2 Kate Schutt  13  0  0  0  10  19 Shana Barghouti  7  0  0  0  2  3 Harvard  13  162  77  239  272  381 Opponents  13  105  39  144  N/A  N/A Goalle  GP  W  L  T  GAA  Sv% Kate Schutt  13  8  5  0  8.58  .545 Shana Barghouti  7  0  0  0  10.00  .500 Harvard  13  8  8  0  8.02  .563 Opponents  13  5  5  0  12.37  .458