Southern Trip Will Test Young Lacrosse Squad

To hear Coach Bruce Munro describe it, the lacrosse team's Southern trip during vacation week won't be a vacation at all.

"We always bite off more than we can chew." says Munro about the annual spring training jaunt. "We'll be playing four games in four days against teams that are six weeks ahead of us weather wise and get their pick of the top Long Island and Maryland boys."

But next week's "shakedown cruise," as Munro calls the trip, will give the veteran coach and his first-year assistant Bruce MacLeod, a former goalie at Williams, a chance to look at this year's large crop of sophomores in top-flight competition, to see "just how golden the wealth really is."

Harvard will play Hofstra on Monday, a team Munro says "we should beat." Rutgers, an 8-6 victor over the Crimson on last year's trip, follows on Tuesday in a game that has to be rated "a tossup."

On Wednesday, the youthful stickmen jcurney to Annapolis, Maryland to play Navy, the best lacrosse team in the nation for the last six years.

The final game on Thursday is against Washington College, a small Maryland school whose lacrosse team made last week'sSports Illustrated. "They beat us 8-6 last year, but we might be working well after three tough games," Munro said.

To give the newcomers some experience before the trip, Munro has scheduled an all-day scrimmage tomorrow at Soldiers Field with Tufts, Boston University, and the Boston Lacrosse Club in an informal round-robin tournament.