Laxmen Seek Win in Home Opener

The Harvard men's lacrosse team is hoping to chalk up a win today in its home opener against 14th-ranked Cornell.

Coming off of last weekend's disappointing 11-4 loss to C.W Post, the Crimson, which is currently ranked 20th but may fall because of the loss, has had a successful week of practice and is optimistic about today's game.

"We've worked hard all week and are fired up for our first home game," freshman midfielder Spencer Rice said.

Harvard is looking for revenge against the Big Red, who got away with a close victory last year, winning 8-7 in Ithaca, N.Y.

No Snow

Things could be different this year, as Cornell has lost some of its big guns, including attacker John Snow, who accounted for 44 goals last year.

Going into today's game, Harvard's main objective is ball control.

"Our goal is to take advantage of every possession," freshman attacker Steve Gaffney said. "We'll try to get a good drive to the goal every time we're on offense."

The offense is where Harvard had trouble last week against Post.

Harvard's offense stunk. The Crimson was never able to control the ball and could muster only three goals. The fourth goal was scored on a coast-to-coast romp by Eric Bentley, a defender.

But the offense, which consists of three freshman starters (Gaffney, Rice and attacker Dan Nicklas) has gelled and is looking much sharper in practice than it did last week.

"Because half of our offense is new and unused to playing together, one week of practice makes a big difference," Gaffney said.

Cornell is 1-1 after walloping Cortland 20-6 and narrowly losing to Army, 8-9.

Led by senior attacker Steve Gray, who has seven goals this season, senior midfielder Joe Lando, who has five, and junior midfielder John Busse, who has four, Cornell is favored to win today's match.

With Harvard's offense finally coming together, however, it is anybody's ballgame.

"I actually like to be in the underdog position," Co-Captain Paul Faust said. "That way a team may tend to look past us and play down a little."

The Big Red has faced Harvard 64 times, and leads the series 46-18.

Cornell is coached by Richie Moran, in his 24th season as the head coach.

Moran has led Cornell to three national championships and 15 Ivy titles, but his team has sputtered as of late, tying for last place in the Ivy League for the past two years.

Moran's offensive philosophy is to "create a positive offensive attitude" so that "each player will maintain complete confidence" in his abilities.

Because Cornell rides its emotions, Harvard Coach Scott Anderson wants to take its out of its game by scoring early.

"Scottie told us that if we can take an early advantage, they'll fall apart," Rice said.