Before it travels out west, though, Harvard will go to Connecticut tonight to take on No. 10 Hartford (5-1, 2-0 America East), the team that provided Gunther with one of her toughest challenges as a rookie last season.

The two teams played to a 1-1 tie in their match in 1999. Gunther, just five games into her collegiate career, went save for save with Hawks goalkeeper Ingrid Sternhoff to keep Harvard in the game.

Though the Crimson and the Hawks were equals on that day, Hartford ultimately had the last laugh. While the Crimson was upset in the second round of the NCAA tournament by Boston College, the Hawks advanced all the way to the quarterfinals, downing Princeton, Florida, and Virginia, before finally falling to Penn State, 2-0.

The Hawks lost six starters from last year's team to graduation, including Sternhoff. Even still, Hartford is the favorite going into tonight's match-up.

"Just because they're ranked ahead of us, I think everyone expects them to win," freshman midfielder Katie Westfall said. "But this will be a good game for us to come together and gel and really challenge them."

Coming off wins against Vermont and Penn, the Crimson is out to prove that it is not the same team that was shutout 3-0 three weeks ago by Texas A&M, which, incidentally, is the last nationally-ranked team Harvard has played.

"I think we've improved a lot since the A&M game," Moore said. "We are doing a lot of the little things now that comes with playing a lot of games."