I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia

As far as the Harvard women's lacrosse squad is concerned, the road to Philadelphia goes through Amherst. But blocking the way is some pretty unfriendly competition.

The Crimson will meet the University of Massachusetts at 2 p.m. Saturday in Amherst in the quarterfinals of the 1983 NCAA women's lacrosse tournament, with the winner advancing to the Final Four the next weekend at the University of Pennsylvania Any hopes of holding the Saturday showdown in the Stadium died yesterday, when the NCAA committee gave the home-field advantage to UMass.

Harvard--on the heels of Wednesday's opening-round 9-4 drubbing of Northwestern--will be looking to knock off a UMass squad that was the last to topple the Crimson, nine games ago. But as Harvard players and coaches argue, that 7-6 loss four weeks ago was perhaps the squad's worst performance of the year.

Since then, the laxwomen have garnered the Ivy title, have impressively disposed of eight straight opponents and are currently at the top of their game.

But what the Crimson will find in UMass the tourney's forth seed (Harvard is not seeded), is a squad whose only loss came on last-second goal by James Madison almost two months ago and whose only tie--a 4-4 contest came against Temple, the top seeded team in the NCAA tournament.

So the Crimson readily admits it will take a stellar performance to knock off the 11-1-1 Minuteman squad. Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder says her underdog squad will need to take as many shots as possible against the defensive-minded UMass team and goalie Rita Hubner, widely considered the finest in the nation.

Even when Harvard outshot UMass, 32 15, in its match earlier this year, the Minute-men managed the one-goal win, thanks largely to superb goaltending.

Perhaps one thing in Harvard's favor, however, is that UMass has not played a game in almost two weeks, while the Crimson has played four in the same period. The favored Minutemen, who had a first-round bye in this tourney, may have lost some of their momentum during the layoff.

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While Harvard and UMass fight it out in Amherst three quarterfinal showdowns will be held Saturday along the Eastern seaboard. Princeton by virtue of its 12-10 first-round win over Dartmouth will meet the tourney's top seed. Temple in Philadelphia Penn. 9-5 winners over Loyola in the first-round will be at Penn State the tournament's second seed and Delaware an 11-7 winner Wednesday over Maryland All winners advance to the Final Four showdown next weekend at Penn's Franklin Field.

The Crimson's top scoring threat. Francesca DenHartog is the tourney's leading scorer through the first round. DenHartog--playing with an injured--led Harvard Wednesday with six goals and one assist in the 9-4 win over Northwestern

Should Harvard win Saturday it will assure itself of a fourth place national finish, tying its best ever finish, which came two years ago. Last year the laxwomen ended seventh in the nation.