Normally the fall season comes and goes for most collegiate golf teams as they patiently wait for the all-important spring season.

This year the Harvard golf team and its four new freshmen have decided to change that tradition.

Taking the reigns in its first three tournaments of the year, the Crimson has demonstrated an excitement and vitality which has been starkly absent from the program in recent years.

"This year has been really exciting especially for someone who has been around for someone who has been around when the team hasn't had a clear focus," said junior Doug MacBean. "Now everyone takes it very serious and everyone knows that we are a legitimate challenger for the lvies."

The shot of esprit de corps into the Harvard team can no doubt be attributed to the influx of youth. With all four freshmen continually popping up on the leader board, the Crimson finally has depth--something which it has so sorely lacked.

"We really didn't know how much depth we would have this year," said co-captain Andy Rourque. "We were hurting for some young talent and we didn't know who exactly would come out for the team. But after the first day they showed that they could really compete."

After a disappointing fifth-place finish at last year's Ivy Tournament compiled with the loss of the team's top golfer--Luis Sanchez '97--the future indeed looked grim for the Crimson.

"This kind of ends the downward streak of losing talent," Rourque said. "My freshman year we had a strong team, but ever since then it seems like we lose the top two players to graduation."

So who would have bet on a bunch of freshmen?

"I don't enter anything unless I can win or make a contribution," said freshman Tim Deardourff, who shot an impressive 155 in his first two tournaments for the Crimson. "I noticed that there was a change in attitude the second the four freshmen came on the scene. We showed [the upperclassmen] that we could play and so the other guys stepped up their level of play."

It was this drive which has transformed what has been a struggling, anemic program into one which has the potential to challenge for the top spot in the Ivy League.

"[The freshmen] are incredibly dedicated, incredibly enthusiastic," MacBean said. "Everyday they want to go out there they don't understand why Harvard isn't the best. They are coming in at a time when the team has a new look and a new dedication to taking hold of the Ivy League."

Even though Harvard finished fifth, sixth and 12th in its only fall tournaments, potential did peak its head through the cobwebs of a rebuilding stigma.

After having a disastrous first day at the Dartmouth Invitational, for instance, Harvard stormed back in the next round with a solid score of 296. Not only did co-captain Alex Gonzalez shoot a team-best 73, but every Crimson golfer broke the 80-stroke barrier that day, bringing Harvard to only three strokes behind Ivy foe Dartmouth.

"At Dartmouth we had a bad first day, but it was the first round of the whole year," MacBean said. "Everyone played well, but as a team those two or three shots isn't a lot and it just shows how close we are."