It seems paradoxical to call a 1-6 Brown team dangerous, but no one on the Harvard men's lacrosse team is expecting anything but a tough test this afternoon in Providence.

"Brown hung with Princeton last weekend and they have nothing to lose," said sophomore Keith Cynar. "Also, right now there's nothing they would like better than to beat us."

The Bears have compiled their record against the toughest teams in the country. All six of their losses have come against top ten teams and they played Princeton tough, falling 9-6.

Brown returns most of their key players from last year's team which beat Duke and humbled mighty Syracuse 20-12 before advancing to the NCAA tournament.

Part of the Bear's success last year was due to the superb goaltending of then-senior Greg Cattrano, who garnered NCAA keeper-of-the-year honors. His replacement between the pipes is the highly touted Strider Dixon, goalie for the U.S. under-19 team.

"Dixon is a terrific goalie who can dominate when he gets involved in the game," said sophomore Geoff Watson. "We need to jump on him early and shake his confidence."

Offensively the Bears have several potent weapons. In Junior Rob Lyle, they have a dangerous attackman who leads the team in scoring.

He is complemented by senior captain Mike Satin, a dangerous dodger, and Jed Dewick, a go-to player who was the team offensive M.V.P. last year.

But Brown's strength is the defense which is led by defensive middie and captain Brett Sowers and two excellent defensemen, three year starter Roman Knysh and All-Ivy honorable mention Dan Buttolph.

After losing last year's game 7-6, revenge must also be on the mind of the Bears, who remain confident.

Dewick was quoted in the Brown Herald as saying, "We feel we are better than the rest of the teams on our schedule and losing will not be acceptable."

In order to make today's game "unacceptable" for Brown, Harvard will have to establish the early lead and draw Brown out of its slow-down, possession-oriented offense.