The lack of offense is one of the biggest holes left by last year's graduates.

The top three scorers from the '98 Crimson squad left last spring, among them Mike Ferrucci '98, Harvard's third all-time leading scorer and a two-time All-American.

Together with Jim Bevilacqua '98, and Doug Crofton'98, Ferrucci and his classmates accounted for 73 percent of the Crimson's scoring.

Behind this senior scoring power the team missed the 1998 NCAA playoffs by one spot, finishing 13th in the nation. The Crimson ranked 12th in overall scoring and 17th in goals scored.

Last week against Fairfield sophomores Dana Sprong and Roger Buttles both tallied two goals, and junior Geoff Watson netted one.

Absent from the list of scorers was DeVries, the most productive scorer behind the seniors last season with 20 goals and 11 assists.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself and I know a lot of people are looking to me as one of the only returning offensive producers," DeVries said. "I need to shoulder a lot more of the responsibility. B.C. is a good time to start before we hit the meat of our schedule."

In addition to the offensive vacuum this year's team is very young. There is only one senior in the lineup, captain Ethan Oberman.