Eckert Eck-cellent

"C'mon, Eckert, make them dance next time," screamed one fan as men's lacrosse captain and attackman Mike Eckert notched his fourth goal during Harvard's 18-3 thrashing of the Vermont Catamounts at Ohiri Field.

Only problem is, it was Eckert and Harvard who were breakdancing and Vermont who was doing some kind of out-dated waltz.

Simply put, Eckert was an offensive terror on the field as he tallied a total of five goals and seven assists in an awesome display of razzle-dazzle shots and perfectly timed passes to his teammates."

Coach Scott Anderson did not seem too surprised by his star senior's performance.

"He's been playing well for four years. He's a lot too handle one-on-one. I don't think they did a good enough job sliding on him," Anderson said.

Eckert, however, downplayed his performance.

"I think it was the worst shooting games of my life," Eckert said in the overstatement of the day. "Really, I think their defense wasn't matched up against our offense--they were pretty porous. All we could do [once Harvard established a comfortable lead] was move the ball and shoot a little better."

Eckert, though, is only one part of an outstanding attack line that consists of sophomores Mike Ferrucci and Jim Bevilacqua. Despite a key loss of attackman Jamie Ames, who graduated last year, there is obviously some kind of chemistry between these three attackmen.

"I think we all kind of compliment each other," Eckert said of his attack line. "We play similar but divergent styles and its coming together for us really well."

When they're working together, they're literally unstoppable. No one knows this better than Duke, which was ranked eighth in the nation when they succumbed to Harvard's potent attack at their own home field in North Carolina.

So, the moral is this: Harvard fans, you have a team to get excited about this spring. Your college just knocked off the eighth-ranked team in the nation (not to mention Boston College and Penn also) and toyed with Vermont yesterday as if it were a set of Tiddlywinks.

If you watched this game, you would have seen speed-demon mid-fielder and captain Pat Marvin streak from one end of the field to the other, shaking off Catamounts like mosquitoes and score unassisted. You would have seen goalie Rob Lyng stave off a three-shot assault brilliantly with a couple of seconds to go in the second period. You would also have seen skillful stick smashing checks by stingy Harvard defenders who only allowed three goals and almost no penetration into the crease.

"We were worried in the beginning about feeds to the crease and quick shots--I think they only got one off the entire game, and it was great to see my defense suck it in and only give them the outside shot," junior goalie Rob Lyng said.

Attack, defense, mid-field, goal-tending: the Crimson is simply explosive and there are no holes in any of the units.

There is essentially no limit to where this team can go this season and cracking the elite Top 10 seems only a matter of time. The Crimson will get another opportunity to prove that its awesome start is no fluke when it takes on 11th-ranked Notre Dame this Saturday at Ohiri Field.

The way the Crimson is playing, the Irish had better start looking for some four-leaf clovers and a leprechaun before they come to Cambridge this weekend.