“If I’m drawing one of the better defensemen and beating him and being able to get the ball to somebody else, I’ll be just as happy doing that.”

Primm, too, hopes to equal or even surpass the 28 goals and 14 assists he amassed en route to earning Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors as a freshman two years ago.

Primm will be joined on the attack by classmate and converted midfielder Jay Wich, who appears to have recovered from the injury troubles that hampered him last year, and heralded freshman Mike McBride.

“As soon as [McBride] gets his confidence up a little more, he’ll be good for a couple goals a game,” Logigian said.

The Crimson will also look to the midfield to initiate much of its offense. There, the top two lines will consist of co-captains Michael Baly and James Christian and senior Derek Nowak, a former defensive midfielder who will be making the transition to a more offensive role, and Logigian and sophomores Jeff Gottschall and Alex Vap.

Vap, who collected the most ground balls last year of any returner, is also the team’s face-off specialist.

Harvard, then, may well be able to fill the offensive void left by graduation; replacing that experience will be a more difficult task.

“That was an unbelievable senior class and they had some great leaders,” Christian said. “This year, we’re trying to make up for that with our own senior leadership.”

And even though the Crimson is a young team, several of its sophomores and juniors saw significant time last year.

“We have a lot of young kids who already have a year under their belt,” Baly said.

To the extent that Harvard does lack game experience, its youth will be most apparent in front of its own goal. Junior Joe Nejman and freshmen Zack Chandis and Doug Kocic will play long stick midfielder in front of a defense consisting of senior Mike Packard, junior Andrew Crocco and sophomore Spencer Stenmark.

Crocco will assume the assignment of marking the opposition’s top attackman after the graduation of former co-captain Pete Zaremba ’01.

While Packard, Crocco and Stenmark comprise a formidable obstacle for any offense, depth among the defense is a question mark.

But Preseason Honorable Mention All-American goalie Jake McKenna can make up for a lot of mistakes. The sophomore finished last year ranked 14th in the nation in save percentage (.607) and 18th in goals-against average (8.92).

With a season-opening, 10-9 victory over No. 19 Bucknell on Saturday, the Crimson took the next step in announcing its arrival on the national scene. Now, it’s just a matter of convincing the lacrosse world that Harvard deserves to be there to stay.