If the Harvard women’s soccer team upsets perennial national powerhouse Stanford today, it will be for two reasons: depth, and width.

That is to say, the Crimson will have relied on its depth to add width to its defense. This season, Harvard (1-1) has replaced the three defenders and five midfielders it has used in years past with three midfielders—all of whom play centrally—and four backs.

Ideally, the new formation will spur a Crimson offense that must replace its two starting strikers—and leading goal-scorers—from last year.

But it may not be Harvard’s extra forward that makes the most difference in its attack. Instead, having an additional player in the back frees several key players to attack situationally as the play develops. As a result, the Crimson’s opponents will never know which Harvard players will attack—or where they will come from—on any given play.

Two likely candidates are central midfielders senior Katie Westfall and sophomore Maile Tavepholjalern. Westfall, a third-team All-American as a sophomore, tied for second on the team with five goals and first in the Ivy League with nine assists last season. Harvard coach Tim Wheaton sees some similarities in Tavepholjalern.

“They’re both very creative and have great vision of the game,” Wheaton said. “The system is set up to allow them to really commit themselves to the attack.”

“Those two are freed up to go forward and take people on without thinking about, ‘Oh, I need to get back and have this defensive responsibility,’” added co-captain Katie Hodel, who is also a Crimson editor.

In other situations, co-captain left back Caitlin Fisher—a two-time first-team All-Ivy selection who was fourth in the conference in assists last year—could be the player spearheading the Crimson break.

“This is a chance definitely for her to have that space along the wings to get forward, make some runs and get some crosses in,” Hodel said.

Of course, the attack could also come from the other side, led by senior Lauren Cozzolino or freshman Laura Odorczyk out of the right back slot.

“With the athletic ability that we have on the wing backs, no matter who’s playing there ... the three central midfielders playing with four in the back allows [them] to go forward without as much hesitation,” Hodel said.

Or Hodel herself could attack out of her defensive role. Or junior center back Liza Barber could creep up to finish one of her trademark headers. Or it could be any number of other players.

And that’s the key to the system—and what allowed Wheaton to implement it in the first place: Harvard’s depth.

“One of our real strengths this year is we have more starting-quality players in a number of positions than we have starting positions,” Wheaton said.

That’s especially true in the back, where the Crimson has already had six different players—Fisher, Barber, Hodel, junior Falyne Chave, Cozzolino and Odorczyk—start a game.

“Not that Liza, Fisher and Cozz hadn’t done outstanding the [past] two years, but playing with three up top and then just playing with three central midfielders, you really need to have more width across the back to be in behind and recover,” Hodel said.

And Harvard will likely need every bit of that width against the Cardinal (1-2), which entered last season’s NCAA Tournament as the top-ranked team in the country before being upset by eventual national champion Portland on penalty kicks in the quarterfinal. Just last month, Stanford was ranked No. 4 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in preseason polls.

The Cardinal has since stumbled slightly—but only slightly, as its two losses have come to No. 17 Portland and No. 9 Pepperdine.

The game marks the Crimson’s second of three contests against ranked opponents over the first three weeks of the season. Harvard fell 2-1 to No. 7 Penn State last Friday and takes on No. 18 Virginia a week from Sunday. Clearly, Wheaton intentionally decided to test his team early.

“We don’t want our Ivy League games—the ones that mean so much to us—to be our toughest, most difficult opponents of the year,” he said.

The Crimson also takes on Maine on Sunday at 1:30.

Against any level of opponent, the new system gives the Crimson greater flexibility, making it more unpredictable offensively, but it can only succeed if the entire team defends as a unit.

“It takes all four backs talking to each other and maintaining shape, it takes all three of the central midfielders getting hard pressure on the ball in the midfield and it takes our forwards giving us shape wide,” Hodel said.

If that all happens, someone watching the Harvard players leave Ohiri Field Friday afternoon might notice the width of their smiles. Naturally, the team will be happy about its depth.

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.