A young team, high expectations, and one of the toughest schedules in the nation combined for glimpses of brilliance and a season of dissappointment for the Harvard women's lacrosse team.

The Crimson played well all season, but could not buy a break and score an upset against any of the top-10 teams it faced.

Despite the Crimson's inability to pull off a major upset, Harvard gave numerous national contenders serious scares in the extremely competitive Ivy League.

After opening the season with wins against UMass, 7-6, and Boston College, 13-9, the Crimson registered its first Ivy win in a 11-10 triumph over Brown on Ohiri Field to improve its record to 3-0.

The win over UMass avenged a humiliating 10-3 defeat in last season's opener and, combined with the victory against Brown, a team Harvard lost to a year ago, the early success raised expectations.

Spring break, however, put a damper on those dreams.

Although Harvard did better than expected in a 21-8 loss to No. 1 Maryland, the high-scoring Terps exposed just how easily a solid game can be ruined by a series of quick back-to-back scores.

After the loss to Maryland, the Crimson headed to New Haven for the most important game of the young season.

The Crimson led Yale, 4-3, at the half, but in the second half, Yale junior Kate Flatley pocketed the winning goal on an assist from senior Heather Bentley for a 7-6 Eli victory.

The Crimson never truly recovered from the defeat at Yale. Despite repeated strong first-half performances, Harvard could not seem to maintain its momentum over a full 60 minutes.

In the first half, Harvard was as good as any team in the country.

After halftime, however, it was a Jeckyl-and-Hyde act for the Crimson, who repeatedly had trouble scoring in the final 30 minutes and had the tendency to give up quick back-to-back goals immediately following halftime.

"We have talked about the second half as a team," said sophomore defender Hilary Walton during the season. "And most people agree it's mental and physical exhaustion that's hurting us. The draws after halftime are critical, and we've lost a couple that have allowed the other team to score a couple quick goals on us."

With games only three days apart against No. 2 Princeton and No. 9 Dartmouth, inconsistency caught up with the Crimson in the heart of its schedule.

Thanks to a pair of goals from junior co-captain Alli Harper, the Crimson jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and trailed Princeton by only two at the half.