With the team out of contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, Saturday’s game represented the final action for Harvard’s seniors. Among the starters, tri-captains McBride, midfielder Doug Kocis and defenseman Brian Wannop will not be around to help the Crimson next year.

Also graduating is midfielder Zach Chandis—who played all 13 games for Harvard—as well as attackman Ford Harrington, midfielder Ted Rykowski, midfielder Tim Reid, midfielder Dan Sirotkin, and defenseman Christian Wyatt.

While the season certainly had its highlights—such as the 11-4 shellacking of then-No. 16 Yale—the Crimson players had expected things to turn out differently, coming off a 7-6 campaign in 2004 and returning a seasoned group of sophomores that was one of the highest-rated recruiting classes last season.

“Health has been an issue,” Anderson said. “We have not had our full team for many of the past games. We had a week break before Yale and I think that was the best game we’ve played.”

Still, there are plenty of reasons for Harvard to be optimistic heading into the 2006 season.

Of all the players who scored a goal this season, only McBride will not be returning, and the Crimson offense should be bolstered by the return of sophomore Greg Cohen—last year’s New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Rookie of the Year—who was injured all season.

—Staff writer Jonathan P. Hay can be reached at hay@fas.harvard.edu.