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.

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 goals 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 of confidence and we don't have that yet," said Kleinfelder. "We need to play harder but it's going to come."

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

Tri-captain Claudia Asano started the momentum by netting a second goal for the Crimson in the first five minutes of the half.

With some assertive moves from Brown and sophomore midfielder Jen Lee, the Crimson managed to set up a few promising offensive plays.

"In the second half we went out harder and we were more aggressive," said Brown. " I mean we really had nothing to lose and we just started playing a lot more together."

But the scoring drought remained as the Crimson's lack of confidence continued to result in dropped passes and shaky stickhandling.

At the 22:15 mark, Maryland sophomore Meghan McNamara picked up on a Crimson defender's bobble in front of the net and turned to score the first Terrapin goal of the second half.

Responding to the Crimson's lapse in concentration, Asano maintained the pressure against Maryland with some outstanding checking for 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, they managed to keep Maryland out of the cage for the final nine minutes of play.

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

"We're lucky to have Maryland on our schedule. You couldn't have played out there without learning something about flawless stickhandling and how to play incredibly hard," said Kleinfelder. "It might be a hard way to learn but we learned a lot today."

This season Kleinfelder has focused on scheduling top-quality teams with experience to challenge the young team. The Crimson also played No. 13 Boston University last Wednesday, losing 15-7.

Harvard 11, Penn 5

On Saturday, Harvard posted its first Ivy League victory of the season, beating the University of Pennsylvania 11-5 at Ohiri.

Lee opened the scoring for Harvard, putting one past the Quakers' goalie early on to put the Crimson on the board. Asano and sophomore Lauren Corkery added to the fuel with a goal and an assist apiece in the first 30 minutes. At the end of the half Harvard led 5-2.

The domination continued as Harvard outscored Penn in the second half 6-3. Both Asano and Corkery netted a second goal.

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

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

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

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

Walton looks at their performance in a different light after playing No. 1 Maryland yesterday.

"[Maryland] played so flawlessly we weren't able to take advantage of any mistakes. We thought we were doing a good job covering cutters against Penn," said Walton. "But we realized today against Maryland that we aren't doing enough. We really need to communicate better."

With a total of eight saves, Donelan's solid goalkeeping was also critical for the Crimson. Throughout the season Donelan has performed consistently well in the cage for the Crimson.

"It was definitely a good win for us," said junior midfielder Kim Weeks. "An Ivy win is always a good win."