Regardless of the sport, games between Harvard and Yale tend to carry a weight greater than individual wins or losses ordinarily do. Episodes in this oldest of rivalries are also battles for respect, honor, prestige, and other intangibles that aren't represented in the win and loss columns.

The Harvard men's soccer team enters this weekend's battle with Yale at Ohiri Field knowing that with a loss, those intangibles would probably be the only thing left to fight for.

The Crimson (5-3-1, 0-2 Ivy) hosts Yale (5-5, 1-1) at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow with its season essentially on the line.

Having lost its two previous Ivy matches, including last weekend's heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to Cornell, Harvard knows that an 0-3 Ivy record at the end of 90 minutes on Saturday would spell the death of its conference title aspirations.

"It's obviously a must-win situation for us," said second year Harvard Coach John Kerr. "With the two losses we've already had, we're in a really tough situation."

The Crimson faces a Yale program that established itself as one of the best in the east in 1999. The Elis won a school-record 13 games during the regular season, including a triumph over eventual national champion Indiana.

Yale eventually advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, and finished the year ranked among the nation's top 20 teams.

However, that Bulldog team and the 2000 iteration are very different. Yale did this mostly on the strength of a very strong senior class, one that the Crimson and the rest of the region no longer have to contend with.