Three days after dropping a 3-0 decision at No. 8 Yale, the Harvard men's soccer team will be without junior captain Ryan Kelly when it hosts Northeastern today.

Kelly, who did not travel with the team to New Haven, Conn., injured his hand after the Crimson's 1-1 tie with Boston University Sept. 22. He sustained a broken hand and an infected cut that will keep him sidelined for another week and a half, he said yesterday. Kelly will have his stitches removed a week from tomorrow and cannot play before then. The midfielder/defender had not missed a game in his two years at Harvard before this year.

"It's frustrating not being able to play with my team on the field," Kelly said. "But the team still seems confident going into the game against Northeastern."

Harvard (1-3-1, 1-1 Ivy) will be challenged to maintain a strong midfield presence without Kelly.

"It's a big loss," senior forward Will Hench said. "We'll miss his ball-winning and possession abilities in the midfield. He's very calm under pressure, but we've got some good guys coming in off of the bench. It's a good chance for the youngsters to learn."

The Crimson will definitely need to learn quickly against a Huskies team (4-2) that has outscored its opponents 20-6 through six games, including shutouts against Albany, Sacred Heart, and Quinnipiac. Northeastern outscored those three teams 16-0.

The Huskies are coming off a high-scoring 6-4 win at Stony Brook in their last game.

With the American East Player of the Week coming to town, the Crimson backfield will miss Kelly's presence. Coming off his second hat trick of the season is Husky sophomore forward Petter Starnas, who has nine goals and four assists on the season.

Accompanying Starnas is sophomore midfielder Anders Hoyem, the catalyst to Starnas' attack. Against Stony Brook, Hoyem assisted on all three of Starnas' goals, giving him four goals and four assists on the year. The duo has combined to produce 65 percent of Northeastern's goals.

"They've got some good foreign guys on their team," Hench said of the Swedish Starnas and the Norwegian Hoyem. "We're going to play three markers and one sweeper against them and make sure a sweeper stays deep. We want to play pressure defense against them and make sure the backs stay on the forwards."

Against Yale last Saturday, Harvard Coach John Kerr started freshmen Mike Lobach and Colin Eyre, junior Matt Edwards and senior Ryan Keeton in the backfield.

Northeastern will also enter Ohiri Field limping from its wounds. Junior defender Mark Hutchinson is out for the season after tearing knee ligaments in a Sept. 18 game at Manhattan. Hutchinson had never missed a start prior to that injury.

Apparently, the Husky defense is feeling his loss. The four goals allowed by Northeastern at Stony Brook is the most in a game this season.

Harvard will seek to take advantage of a hobbled Northeastern defense and jump-start its offense, which has been held in check this season. The Crimson has only scored five goals in five games, compared to 14 for the opposition.

Harvard has also been shut out in two of its last three games, including a 6-0 loss to then-No. 1 Creighton.

Senior midfielder Armando Petruccelli will lead the Crimson offense. He is the team's leading scorer, with two goals and one assist, while sophomore midfielder Mike Peller has also tallied two assists.

The Crimson is striving to repeat last year's turnaround after a slow start. In 1998, it began the year 0-4-1 before streaking to an 8-6-2 finish, including a 3-3-1 mark in the Ivy League.

Defeating a sliding Northeastern team could be the start of a reversal of fortunes.