"We have yet to prove that we can bury a team," Browning said. "We've done a lot of outplaying this year but not a lot of outscoring."

"We've scored enough to win, but we certainly haven't done anything beyond that," Stauffer said. "But you just need enough goals to win."

Harvard's dearth of scoring is largely due to its style of play. The Crimson patiently works the ball through the back and has its defense start most of its runs, thus generating good spacing, sharp passing and strong shooting. Harvard's three losses and one tie all came in games in which the Crimson abandoned this method.

Moreover, Harvard's three losses are all to top-25 teams--No. 3 Connecticut, No. 8 Penn State and No. 15 Hartford. That may be a bad sign for the Crimson, considering Dartmouth's ranking, but the Big Green's loss also came against its only nationally-ranked opponent, No. 9 William & Mary.

"[Dartmouth] is obviously having a great season, and that is to their credit," Stauffer said. "But we play them every year, and we know what they can do. To us they're just Dartmouth."

Harvard and Dartmouth have faced eight common opponents this season, including Hartford. The Big Green is undefeated in those matches, while the Crimson is 6-1-1.

Despite the excellent offenses that will take the field tomorrow, several Harvard players said they expect the match to be a low-scoring showdown. Should a defense-driven contest emerge, it might favor the Crimson.

"Our defense is excellent; they're incredible soccer players," Stauffer said. "When they have a great game, we have a great game."

Because both Harvard and Dartmouth have been ranked in the top 25 for the entire season, it is likely that both teams will qualify for the NCAA Tournament regardless of tomorrow's outcome. But a win by the Crimson tomorrow would translate into a higher regional ranking, a higher national ranking and a higher seed in the Tournament.

If that is not incentive enough, the Harvard seniors also have their 32-1 Ivy record to defend, not to mention their string of three consecutive Ivy League championships.

"Since preseason, our goal has been to win our fourth straight Ivy title," Browning said. "We see tomorrow's game as an all-or-nothing situation. Both teams have played very strong this year, so it should be one hell of a match."