If you ventured out to freezing wind-driven Ohiri Field on Saturday to watch the men's lacrosse team beat Yale, 13-5, you had to be in one of the following categories: a) a diehard lacrosse fan, b)a sports writer, or c) so drunk that you didn't give a damn whether you were watching a lacrosse game or a cricket match.

While spectators may have been thinking, "let's get this thing over with so we can resuscitate our frost-bitten hands," the lacrosse team obviously did not feel the same way.

From the opening whistle, the Crimson, (5-4, 3-1 Ivy) came out with a determined "this is our game attitude" to denigrate Ivy League cellardweller Yale (3-8, 1-4).

"I was very happy with the way we played," Harvard coach Scott Anderson said bluntly.

Coming off of a two-game losing streak that included a horrific 6-12 loss to UMass last Wednesday (which likely snuffed out the team's hope for an NCAA bid), many skeptics probably didn't expect much of a game against the Elis.

The offense wasn't scoring enough goals, and the defense seemed to be having an all-invited open-house party in front of goalie and captain Rob Lyng.

To add insult to injury this week, or in this case, injury to insult, the already struggling Crimson offense lost its star attackman, junior Mike Ferrucci, with a torn ACL against UMass on Wednesday. The injury will likely side-line him for the rest of the season.

"We've had a lot of injuries so some guys haven't played as fluidly," said junior midfielder Jared Chupaila.

With that said, the Crimson somehow managed to put together a very decent game Saturday. So just how did they do it, with almost all the cards stacked against them?

"It was confidence--we worked hard off the ball," senior attackman Max Von Zuben said. "It was confidence from the start.

Interestingly enough, the loss of Ferrucci seemed to send a message loud and clear to the Crimson offense, and that was, "Its time to pick it up guys."

Zuben understood perfectly well what he had to do on Saturday, and he responded with a career-high three goals and two assists.

"To tell you the truth, its really easy to get up for Yale your senior year," Zuben said.

But if Zuben was a terror on the field, junior attackman Jim Bevilacqua was a downright nightmare for the befuddled. Yale defense as he added four goals to his bounty.

"Jimmy and Max picked it up big time," Chupaila said.