With the No.1 ranking in New England all but insured as it enters the NCAA Tournament, the Harvard women's soccer team has only two things left on its mind: beating Brown and attaining Ivy League perfection.

Harvard enters the weekend coming off its two biggest wins of the year over UConn and Dartmouth--then ranked No. 7 and No.25, respectively. With the win over the Big Green the Crimson (13-1-1, 6-0 Ivy) earned at least a share of the Ivy League championship and the No. 9 spot in the national rankings.

Now primed to cap a perfect Ivy season and win the title outright, Harvard travels to Providence tomorrow morning to take on the hapless Bears (2-11-2, 0-5-1).

"This game is very important for us, and especially for the seniors," co-captain Jess Larson said. "It means a lot to go undefeated in the Ivy League, and we definitely don't want to be co-champs. We take pride in winning the title."

Harvard needs only a tie to clinch sole-possession of the championship.

Standing in the way of the Crimson's third title in four years is a struggling Bears team. Brown has been in a tailspin of sorts ever since its third game of the year. After beginning the 1999 campaign with a 2-1 record, the Bears have gone winless the rest of the way, losing 10 of its last 11 games.

Brown has proven to be fairly inept in all aspects of play this season, allowing 23 goals, while scoring only 10 this year. Despite the apparent mismatch, however, Harvard believes that the Bears will give it everything it can handle.

"Playing at Brown is always tough," Larson said. "They will be pretty emotional, and will be looking forward to the chance of upsetting us as we try to win the Ivy title."