Throughout the rampage, Downing quietly emerged as an offensive force. She led the Crimson in the scoring against UNH and Yale. Perhaps her finest performance came against second-ranked Maryland.

As the Terrapins keyed on Berkery, the speedy Exeter-grad torched Maryland goalie Mandy Stevenson for four unassisted goals, including the game-winner with 4:06 remaining.

Harvard was sitting on top of the lacrosse world. Those that the gods would humble, they first make proud (or at least number one in the nation).

After peaking against Yale and Maryland, the Crimson received its first message from those above on a bouncy artificial turf field in Baltimore, Md. Harvard jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Loyola, but then handed the Lady Greyhounds the game. Loyola stormed back to take the victory, 11-10, in overtime.

Most agree, however, that the loss was a blessing in disguise. Freshman Megan Colligan says it made the team "focus". Leary says that after Loyola "the team grew up together."

Kleinfelder agrees that Loyola was the turning point.

"The younger players began to realize what it would take to be national champions. It taught them how much they'd need to go all the way," Kleinfelder says.

"This senior class, along with Liz, was the supporting cast of the 1990 NCAA title team. The supporting cast [i.e. the sophomores and freshman] of 1992 developed after the Loyola loss," she continues.

Harvard ended the season with five straight victories, including three in the Ivies. An 11-5 defeat of Dartmouth extended an Ivy league winning streak that dates back to 1986 and gave the Crimsonits 11th Ivy title in the last 13 years.

"It was great to carry on a tradition ofHarvard women's lacrosse," Leary says. "It's aboutmaintaining standards [of performance]. This isthe first time in recent years that the ivy racehas come down to the final game of the season, andit was good to come through with a victory."

A final victory against Vermont in a gamerescheduled from earlier in the season set thestage for the NCAA tournament.

Harvard entered as the top seed, earning a byein the first round of the tournament.

During the semifinal game against Princeton,the sun struggled to break free of the clouds, butfinally succeeded, just as the Crimson had tostruggle to defeat the pesky Tigers. Harvard wasscoreless for the first 12 minutes of the firsthalf, but then ripped off four straight goals enroute to a 10-5 victory.

This game again showed how any player on theteam could break loose, as Winters, who talliedonly six goals in the regular season, scorched heTigers with four tallies.

Winters, a shy freshman from Wyndomoor, Penn,was downright defensive when asked about theoutburst.

"All of the goals were assisted. It was a realteam effort," Winters says.