Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day and the Harvard men's lacrosse team (10-2, 4-1 Ivy) welcomed Cornell (3-9, 1-5) to Ohiri field for a traditional Ivy-league face-off.

Cornell probably should have stayed up north and far away from Cambridge, though, as the Crimson educated the Big Red on just why they are currently the sixth-ranked team in the nation. Harvard sent Cornell back on its eight hour drive to Ithaca with a 20-12 spanking.

The score, though, hides one unpleasant fact--this game was not a romp until the third period. Shockingly, the score was actually tied 8-8 at the half--go figure.

"At halftime we realized that Cornell wasn't going to come out here and roll over and play dead just because we're a ranked team," said junior goalie Rob Lyng, who had 17 saves.

The opening period was Harvard's game, as the Usual Suspects on the attack line--co-captain Mike Eckert and sophomores Mike Ferrucci and Jim Bevilacqua--along with the marvelous midfield Marvin brothers, co-captain Pat and senior Mike, asserted the Crimson's dominance early.

Highlights that would make ESPN's Sports Center envious included the Eckert-Jim Bevilacqua duo. After six minutes of play, Bevilacqua turboed down the field and hit Eckert right in front of Big Red goalie Michael LaRocco with an exceptional pass.

Eckert being Eckert, the score was quickly 3-2 in Harvard's favor.

Eight minutes later, Eckert returned the favor by faking a shot in front of the crease and magically dishing off a pass to a nearby Bevilacqua, who gave Harvard a 6-3 advantage to end the first.

But things fell apart in the second period for the Crimson. This was pretty obvious right from the start as Harvard coach Scott Anderson's voice boomed across the field, after a sloppy offensive turn-over, "Can't we try a little harder!"

Eckert opened Harvard's lead by four after Ferrucci made a spectacular one-handed catch mid-field and found a wide-open Eckert, but that was as much daylight as the Crimson would see in the period.

Big Red midfielder Bryan Younge was a headache--perhaps even an ulcer--as he added a pair of tallies to Cornell's five-goal outburst.

By the end of the first half, the score was tied at eight. Nightmares of the Crimson's playoff-hopes being shattered probably raced through the heads of many fans.

"At halftime [coach Anderson] said we weren't working for ground balls and [that we should] basically hustle between the restraining lines...we weren't moving the ball well, we weren't holding on to the ball in general..." Mike Marvin said. "We didn't want what we worked so hard to get [throughout the season] to slip away."

Not to fear, the Crimson's season wasn't going anywhere just yet. Harvard corrected its second period hiccup in the third by coming out like a mad bull turned loose at a rodeo.

One of the turning points in the game came three minutes into the third period, when Ferrucci stripped a defender, who was clearing the ball, and broke away uncontested to the goal, giving Harvard a 11-9 advantage.