The Huskies lost to the Tar Heels 6-0 in the 2003 championship game, and is returning 19 players from last year’s team.
But in this year’s tourney, neither UConn nor Harvard is seeded in the top 16. The Huskies’ record did help earn them the home field advantage in the first round. The winner of today’s game will play at Marrone Field again on Sunday against the winner of No. 13 Arizona (15-5-0) and Colgate (12-6-2).
This season, UConn only went 8-4 at home, not surprising considering it’s tough home schedule.
“Their fans aren’t particularly nice, so it’s going to be really intense,” Moran said.
Three of the Huskies’ home losses came to No. 2 Penn State, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 Portland. The only other home loss was a double overtime decision to Boston College, who also qualified for the tournament.
Since September, UConn has won five straight at home, making Marrone Field an intimidating place for the visiting team.
“The field is gorgeous, which is a plus,” Chave said. “But it’s going to be intense because it’s at home, it’s early and it’s a Friday night.”
The Huskies are also riding a winning streak tracing back to September whose only blemish was the loss to the Crimson two weeks ago.
A HELPING HAND FROM THE ENEMY
Considering its league play, it appears that the encounter earlier in the year greatly enhanced Harvard’s prospects to get into the tournament. After losses to Penn and Princeton and with no wins against ranked teams early in the season, the Crimson’s chances at an at-large bid did not look good.
“I can’t even explain the sentiment in the room when we found out,” Moran said. “As much as we believed, there was still a huge element of surprise which made it super exciting.”
And if the Crimson plays any games after today, it will again again be thanks to a win over UConn.
“I don’t know how to explain the feeling,” Chave said. “It’s one of excitement to be able to play them again because we beat them once this year and we know we can do it again.”
—Staff writer Carrie H. Petri can be reached at cpetri@fas.harvard.edu.