Laxwomen Have Green Seeing Red

Unlike battles between ancient Roman gladiators, modern sports competition does not vanquish the defeated forever. Today's loser might be tomorrow's winner, and vice versa.

The second chance. The rematch. The chance for revenge. History is rife with rematches that yielded different results than those of the first contests.

Tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., the Harvard women's lacrosse team faces its own rematch at Ohiri Field.

Dartmouth-15-6 losers to the Crimson last week-will play Harvard for the right to advance to the Final Four.

Harvard is well aware that revenge colors this first-round NCAA playoff game. Rest assured that the Crimson doesn't want any reversal of fortune to occur here.

"Despite our huge win earlier, I definitely don't think we're looking past this game," Co-Captain Rachel Burke said. "I'm expecting them to come out with a lot more early intensity, which should make the game a lot closer."

While Harvard clinched its seventh straight Ivy League title with last week's blowout, this game has even bigger implications.

As the first round in the NCAA playoffs, tomorrow's contest represents a do-or-die situation for both teams.

The winner will go on to play in the NCAA Final Four next weekend in Maryland. The loser goes home.

In other words, last week's Harvard win doesn't mean anything if it's not followed by another one tomorrow.

"It's going to be a difficult game," Coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "It's hard to play anyone twice."

Asked if she anticipated any changes by Dartmouth from the first game, Kleinfelder calmly shrugged off the question.

"They might [try something new offensively], but I think they'll try to work more on defense," she said. "I won't second-guess them, though. We need to concentrate on ourselves, our own game, and we should be fine."

Smothering D

Dartmouth's offense was stifled last week by the smothering pressure of Harvard's defense. Junior Kelly Morrison was awarded Player of the Week honors for shutting down Big Green sophomore Lauren Holleran, the Ivy League's leading scorer.

Both Holleran and freshman Sarah Devens will have to attack more effectively for their team to have a chance.

If Dartmouth can't stop Harvard's Liz Berkery, Sarah Winters, Francie Walton or any of the other weapons in Kleinfelder's loaded arsenal, on the other hand, Holleran and Devens will become irrelevant.

Other Playoff Action

While Harvard and Dartmouth tangle here, third-ranked Princeton will host sixth-ranked Penn State in their own rematch of an early-season Princeton win.

Kleinfelder predicts an easy Tigers victory. "I just don't know if Penn State has the firepower to win that game," the coach said.

Meanwhile, top-ranked Virginia and number two Maryland will receive first-round playoff byes, and will face tomorrow's winners in the Final Four next weekend.

If Harvard wins, it will play Virginia in the national semifinals.