One month ago, the Harvard men's soccer team travelled to Florida for two games in the nation's Sunshine State.

The Crimson won both contests, but that is not as important as why the booters took the trip.

Harvard Coach Jape Shattuck scheduled these games, "because we thought that at the end of the season we might have to play a Southern team, and I wanted the team to get used to [different playing] conditions."

The time has finally come. By capturing three of its toughest duels of the season, the Crimson booters earned a trip to North Carolina to face the Duke Blue Devils in tomorrow afternoon's semifinals of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament.

Looking back on that trip to the sun and heat of Florida, one might think that the 90-degree playing experience would come in handy in Raleigh, home of the Blue Devils, but that is not necessarily the case.

Harvard took advantage of its home field edge and the crisp Cambridge weather in each of its first three NCAA victories.

In the opening round against Yale, the Crimson used its larger field to dominate play along the flanks and to keep the Elis continuously on defense.

Then, with the New England Championship and the right to play Hartwick up for grabs, the booters slipped by Boston University on the grass and freezing water of Ohiri--instead of crossing the Charles to play on the unfriendly artificial turf of the Terriers' Nickerson Field.

And finally against Hartwick, near-zero temperatures did not stop a determined Harvard squad, while favored 'Wick shivered its way to a 2-0 loss.

Tomorrow, however, neither the field nor the weather should play any role at all--the field is big, the surface is grass, and the weather should be in the 60-degree range.

Where's the Edge?

So where is the edge in this game?

Neither side need worry much about its goalie situation. Duke's junior netminder, Mark Dodd, has a 1.1 goals against average, while Harvard's Chad Reilly--the hero of the the Crimson's dramatic shootout victory over Yale and the key to the next two wins--has a mere 0.92 GAA.

The front lines match up rather evenly as well.

Harvard's front line is led by freshman sensation Derek Mills, who has paced the team in scoring with 13 goals and four assists in 10 games, senior John Catliff (11 goals, five assists), and junior Nick Hotchkin (six, eight).