She may not be big and she may not be strong, but she sure can play soccer.

Fullback Lori Barry has the key ingredients that make her one of the dominating players on the Harvard soccer team. Barry has led the defense to a winning season in 1987. And the best may still await the nationally ranked Crimson.

Barry, a senior from Pittsburgh, first became interested in soccer when she was seven years old and living in Dallas.

"In Texas everyone played soccer, and there were lots of teams for girls my age," Barry says.

But when Barry moved to Pitsburgh, soccer teams for young girls were more difficult to find. Her mother started a league so she and her sister could continue their soccer careers, and from then her career soared.

Barry continued playing for Fox Chapel High School before earning a starting position on the Crimson squad her first year at Harvard.

Barry's rookie campaign was a memorable one, because that was the year the booters were ranked fifth in the nation and upset top-ranked UMass, surprising themselves as well as the Minutewomen.

But the Crimson's good fortune did not spill over to Barry's sophomore year. The road was a bit rocky for Harvard, which slipped from 14-3-1 in 1984 to a disappointing 5-8-3.

"We lost a lot of the team [from her freshman year] and we had some team and coach problems," Barry says.

By her junior year, the team was getting along better, but this season is shaping up to be more special than the others.

"It seems to be more serious than last year," says Barry. "The team has gotten serious and competitive. The people out here are not athletes who can play soccer well, but are just soccer players."

Barry is one of those soccer players.

"She's crafty out there," says Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton. "She's a very smart and tough player, someone you can depend on."

After working out during the summer in hope of making her senior year her best, Barry was forced to take a seat on the bench on the second day of pre-season because of a muscle pull and various other nagging injuries.

As a result, Barry's early season play was limited. A three-year starter on the Harvard squad, Barry's only support in the first three games came from the sidelines.