Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

And for the Harvard women's lacrosse team the lesson couldn't have been much harder, as the Crimson (3-5, 1-2 Ivy) dropped a 21-3 decision to No. 1 Maryland yesterday at Ohiri Field. The Terrapins are the four-time defending NCAA champions and improved to a flawless 12-0 with the win. PENN  5 HARVARD  11 MARYLAND  21> HARVARD  3

Living up to its reputation, Maryland fired five goals past Harvard in the first ten minutes. In the wake of this explosive start, things didn't look good for the Crimson.

"You could tell how nervous we were for the first half of the game. We kept bobbling the ball and just couldn't get a hold of passing or throwing," said Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder.

Facing little opposition, the Terrapins mercilessly assaulted the stunned Crimson. Sophomore Kristin Sommar and junior Kristie Jenkins netted three goals apiece for the Terrapins in the first half alone.

Jenkins was also the top scorer overall, tallying a career high of seven goal as well as two assists.

After 14 minutes, Harvard freshman Hilary Walton finally put the Crimson on the scoreboard. But there was little time for congratulations.

Ten seconds later Sommar broke away from the field and scored her second goal of the day before most of the Crimson even crossed midfield.

Maryland found the back of the cage eight more times before the first 30 minutes were up.

"We didn't go out hard enough," said junior tri-captain Becca Brown. "We were just intimidated and played really tentatively."

With most of the action on the Crimson's side of the field, the Harvard defenders were under constant pressure. Stepping up to the challenge with solid defense, freshman Erin Kutner held Maryland's top scorer, sophomore Jen Adams, to only two goals.

Kutner's tight coverage wasn't enough to stop the rest of Maryland's offensive machine. Sophomore attackers Quinn Carney and Allison Comito finished with three goals each.

Under the furious storm of shots from the unstoppable Maryland offense, sophomore goalkeeper Keltie Donelan held her own, making nine saves overall.

By the end of the half, Maryland led 16-1 and Harvard had barely touched the ball.

"We're just young. It's all about a sense ofconfidence and we don't have that yet," saidKleinfelder. "We need to play harder but it'sgoing to come."

And in the second half the Crimson proved thatthe potential is definitely there.

Tri-captain Claudia Asano started the momentumby netting a second goal for the Crimson in thefirst five minutes.

With some assertive moves from Brown andsophomore midfielder Jen Lee, the Crimson managedto set up a few promising offensive plays.

"In the second half we went out harder and wewere more aggressive," Brown said. "I mean wereally had nothing to lose and we just startedplaying a lot more together."

But the scoring drought remained as theCrimson's lack of confidence continued to resultin dropped passes and shaky stickhandling.

At the 22:15 mark, Maryland sophomore MeghanMcNamara picked up on a Crimson defender's bobblein front of the net and turned to score the firstTerrapin goal of the second half.

Responding to the Crimson's lapse inconcentration, Asano maintained the pressureagainst Maryland with some outstanding checkingfor the Crimson defense.

With the Crimson putting up more of a fight,the Terrapins only netted six in the second half.Stopping a number of powerful offensive plays, theCrimson managed to keep Maryland out of the cagefor the final nine minutes of play.

Finally with less then two minutes remaining inthe game, freshman Gretchen Puttkamer put in thethird and final Crimson goal off an assist fromfreshman Eliza Dick.

"We're lucky to have Maryland on our schedule.You couldn't have played out there withoutlearning something about flawless stickhandlingand how play incredibly hard," said Kleinfelder."It might be a hard way to learn but we learned alot today."

This season Kleinfelder has focused onscheduling top-quality teams with experience tochallenge the young team. The Crimson also playedNo. 13 Boston University last Wednesday, losing15-7.

Harvard 11, Penn 5

On Saturday, Harvard posted its first IvyLeague victory of the season, beating Penn 11-5at Ohiri.

Lee opened the scoring for Harvard, putting onepast the Quakers' goalie early on to put theCrimson on the board. Asano and sophomore LaurenCorkery added to the fuel with a goal and anassist apiece in the first 30 minutes. At the endof the half Harvard led 5-2.

The dominations continued as Harvard outscoredPenn in the second half 6-3. Both Asano and Corkerynetted a second goal.

"I see a lot of good things happening out therebut there is a lot we need to work on," saidAsano. "We went to goal well but we need to workon our midfield transition."

The Quakers were led by freshman TraciMarabella who had three goals and one assist.

Walton and junior Jeanne Ficociello also had astrong showing for the Harvard defense.

"We weren't playing at our best but we wereable to capitalize on their mistakes," Walton said.

Walton looks at their performance in adifferent light after playing No. 1 Marylandyesterday.

"[Maryland] played so flawlessly we weren'table to take advantage of any mistakes. We thoughtwe were doing a good job covering cutters againstPenn," said Walton. "But we realized today againstMaryland that we aren't doing enough. We reallyneed to communicate better."

With a total of eight saves, Donelan's solidgoalkeeping was also critical for the Crimson.Throughout the season Donelan has performedconsistently well in the cage for the Crimson.

"It was definitely a good win for us," saidjunior midfielder Kim Weeks. "An Ivy win is alwaysa good win."CrimsonAbigail H. ZobaLA CROIX,WISCONSIN:Harvard beat Pennbut lost to Maryland at home