Laxmen Tops in Ivy League

Though few games have been played, the biggest surprise of the early Ivy League men's lacrosse season has been the emergence of upstart Harvard. With victories in its first two Ivy games, the Crimson has vaulted out ahead of the field into first place in the league.

This week the Crimson takes a break from league play with away games at Vermont, Wednesday, and 17th-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday.

A major reason for the Crimson's success has been the play of its attackmen, specifically junior Mike Eckert and freshman Mike Ferucci. Eckert, who leads the team in assists (18) and points (32), was named Ivy League player of the Week earlier this season, and Ferucci, third on the team with 15 points, was Ivy Rookie of the Week for the first two weeks of the season.

The 15th-ranked Crimson suffered a tough loss to 8th ranked Duke last Saturday, 13-11, but proved that it could play with the best in the country.

Two other Ivy League teams certainly fall into that category.

First, Princeton (1-0 Ivy, 4-2 overall) presently stands at fifth in the nation. The Tigers, led by Scott Conklin's five goals, stormed past 16th ranked Yale last week by a score of 10-6. A big week lies ahead for the Tigers as they face Pennsylvania (0-3, 4-4) Wednesday and 10th-ranked Brown, Saturday.

Brown (2-3 overall) has yet to play an Ivy League game, but has faced off against some of the nation's top teams. The Bears lost to Duke 10-7, 13th ranked Hofstra, 10-9 in overtime, and Syracuse 13-12, and defeated Loyola, Md. 13-10. Brown opens league play this week hosting Yale (2-1, 4-2) Wednesday, and travelling to Princeton Saturday, for a clash of the League's only top-ten teams and the winners of the last four Ivy League championships (Brown 1991 and 1994, Princeton 1992 and 1993).

Another team that has yet to begin its Ivy campaign is undefeated Dartmouth (3-0). Last week Dartmouth knocked off Lehigh, 12-11, and Stony Brook, 15-5. The Big Green take on Holy Cross Wednesday, and break into Ivy action Saturday at Penn.

Meanwhile, after this week, Yale will have had enough Ivy League play to last them a while. The Elis' game against Brown Wednesday will be their second straight matchup with a nationally-ranked Ivy League opponent, following last weekend's loss to Princeton. A bright spot for Yale in the Princeton loss was Tom Zaccagnino's five-goal outburst, good enough to land him on the Ivy League Honor Roll.

However, the top performer in the Ivies last week was Penn attackman Andy Crofton. Crofton netted 6 goals and dished out 3 assists in Penn's 18-17 loss to Cornell, and tallied four goals and five assists in the Quaker's 19-6 thrashing of Lafayette. For these outstanding performances Crofton, Penn's fourth all-time leading scorer, was named the Ivy League Player of the Week.

Also taking home Ancient-Eight honors was Cornell's Matt Wise, named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for his three goals against Penn, and two versus Delaware. The Big Red (1-2, 3-3) take on fourth-ranked Syracuse, Saturday.

The Ivy league standings are sure to be shaken up after this week of key Ivy League matchups and several teams' League openers.