M. Lax Season Opener Gets Postponed...Again

Picture yourself trying to start something but not being able to. Picture yourself travelling hundreds of miles only to be relegated to idleness. Picture all your expectations building and building and then uncontrollably falling by your side sullen, deflated--in a word unfulfilled.

The Harvard men's lacrosse team knows about unfulfilled expectations.

The Crimson has tried and tried to get its season underway this year, and each time the weather has stopped Harvard cold.

For the third time this season, the Crimson had its contest postponed. Harvard will not play Boston College today as scheduled. No one even knows when the match will actually be played.

The Crimson couldn't battle C.W. Post because of icy temperatures and big white flakes.

It travelled to Cornell last weekend only to be crested by five-foot snow drifts and whiteout skies--all part of the 'storm of the century'.

And today the artificial turf at BC is as hard as rock and not even cleared of the white remnants of this weekend's blizzard.

Harvard has had serious trouble getting its season off the ground.

It's tried three times. Count 'em three.

"I think all these cancellations are making the team more ambitious," Co-Captain Chad Prusmack said. "It's like restraining a caged beast."

Harvard will need that beast-like aggressiveness this year because it knows about unfulfilled expectations in another sense.

The Crimson finished last season with a distressing 4-9 record overall, 1-5 Ivy, the only Ancient Eight team it beat was one accustomed to smelling the dark, dank waters of the cellar--Dartmouth.

And last year's Crimson team didn't like the taste of losing. That's not what it expected. And that's not what the Crimson expects this season either.

"We've got a new attitude on this team," Co-Captain Eric Bentley said. "We've been more dedicated than ever before. This is one of the best teams that I've been on since I've been here."

"This particular team is just having a better time," Prusmack said. "Our attitude in practice is much more lively. It's a different mentality."

So far, the Crimson has also not offered the same type of injuries that sidelined sensations like sophomore Pat Marvin last year.

Of course, the season really hasn't started just yet. And who knows what the meteorological gods have in store for the team down the line.

Harvard hasn't even scrimmaged anyone yet, and the troops are definitely getting antsy.

"The big thing now is just playing a game, getting a game and a win under our belt," Prusmack said.

When the team does get to warm up its cleats and go stick to stick with a real team in some real action, the goalie question will have to be answered.

Last year the team graduated netminder Chris Miller, and the void in net has caused wild speculation.

"I don't think that goaltending is our weakest link," Prusmack said. "Everything is just much more positive this year."

Stepping in to fill Miller's shoes are sophomore Walter Sipe and junior Matt Camp.

Bentley said that both goalies have been doing well in practice, and the team doesn't expect any problems.

"Of course it's been difficult to replace Chris Miller, but Walter Sipe and Matt Camp have stepped in there really well," Bentley said.

The problem is, however, that no questions will be answered, none may even be really asked until Harvard gets on the field and does what it has been wanting do for a long time.

Play a game.