Lots of Memories for Five Seniors

1992, Commencement. Senior Bars, Senior Week, Senior Soiree. Senior Dinner. Lots of lasts; Last Dance, last Yale game, last paper (done), last final (Tuesday for me).

And the last women's lacrosse game.

Ceci Clark, Elizabeth "Buffy" Hansen, Sarah Leary, Becky Gaffney and Cris "Pags" Paglinauan will play their final game as members of the Harvard women's lacrosse team this weekend.

These five seniors will lead the team into the NCAA championships on Saturday against Princeton, and the Tigers are out for blood. Harvard defeated then top-ranked Princeton, 13-2, in the first week of the season, took their number one ranking, and held it ever since.

It has been a long road for these five. Clark is the only one who has spent four years as a starter, while Leary and Gaffney spent one year on the bench.

Paglinauan is in her first year n the varsity after playing with the JV for three years. Three year sin the bleachers cheering for her classmates.

Most players make varsity in the first year of tow, or don't make it all, JV players often take senior year off tow write a thesis, go through recruiting or take it easy. Not Pags.

Expecting to play JV, Paglinauan came to varsity tryouts in February hoping to get an early jump on the JV season. To her suprise, her hard work, experience and attitude earned her a spot on the varsity.

Hansen took the middle road Although she made varsity has a fresh mane, she took a big longer to break into the lineup, and starting until her junior years. She did not see much time in her freshman and sophomore years, but when she played she made it count.

Of all the stories written about the 1990 NCAA championship team, most have focused on the seven starting seniors, the unbeatable Leary in net or the brilliance of Coach Carole Kleinfelder. (Or all three.)

But it almost didn't happen.

It took a late goal by Liz Berkery, then a precocious freshman coming off the bench, and it took (in Kleinfelder's words) "the gnat-fly." That was Hansen, coming off the bench when Harvard was behind Maryland, 4-0, in the first half. Using her aggressive quickness, she, along with Gaffney paralyzed the Terrapin at tack.

The rest of the seniors have had their moments too, but it's not the individual plays that stick out. When describing Gaffney, Leary and Clark, words like dependable, consistent, intense and hard-working come to mind.

Leary's aggressive reputation is legend, from Bow Street to JFK, from the Middlesex School to Ohiri Field, Being a goalie requires a special mindset--knowing that the only thing between you and a goal is your shadow--and Leary has it.

"It" comes in many forms depending on the game and the position, and sometimes it hides behind quiet, unassuming players that look average, until you meet them on the field.

Clark and Gaffney leave the talking to Leary. In a crowd, the Mather roommates don't immediately get noticed like Leary does, unless that crowd is spread over an acre and a half of grass, armed with sticks and chasing a ball.

Gaffney has been handling the center's role for the last three seasons, and the quick midfielder is well-known for her ability to get the draw.

Clark is defender, and usually draws the opponents' top scorer. An All-American in both field hockey and lacrosse, co-captain for both, Clark's actions speak for themselves.

After playing and practicing together for four years at Harvard (and for four years before that at St. Paul's School for Clark and Hansen), these women know each other well. They share the bonds of friends, roommates (Clark and Gaffney, Hansen and Panglinauan) and even relatives (Hansen's brother married Clark's sister).

They know where the other will be on a certain play without looking. They know the ability and the faults, the possibilities and the impossibilities. After all these years, the end is finally here. After this weekend, they will never play together again.

Let's hope they go out on top.