The score remained at 5-2 for almost 10 minutes after the opening draw, until the upset-minded Cornell offense struck again to cut the lead to two goals.

But yet another time Harvard retaliated when it counted. Less than two minutes after the cornell goal, senior Sarah Downing (two assists) stole the ball and passed to junior Megan Colligan (three goals), who cut past a defender and bounced the ball past Owen.

Colligan provided more fireworks 2:04 after that, as she performed practically the same move to tally another score for the Crimson, and it seemed as though Harvard had finally begun to put away the upstarts.

However, it would not be that easy, as the pesky Big Red attack stayed close by scoring two additional goals to cut the lead to 7-5.

Part of the difficulty for the Crimson was the Big Red offense. Cornell used a practice of reversing its defenders and attackers when it had the ball, thus creating confusion for the Harvard defense.

"People were free in the middle," Kleinfelder said. "I thought that [the Cornell set] created problems for us."

"We had a hard time figuring out what their game plan was," McAnaney said. "They got some one-on-ones [on offense that they shouldn't have gotten]."

After the fifth Big Red goal, Klein felder called a timeout and mustered a defensive plan to stop the Cornell offense.

Thankfully for the Crimson, it worked. Schutt made some important saves in the next few minutes, until Harvard scored three goals in the last seven minutes to put away Cornell.

For the Crimson, the victory was a mixed blessing. It was a in, but it showed what Harvard has to fix before its game Tuesday against Dart mouth, a much better team than Cornell.

"[The game] was OK," Schutt said "We are still working hard to put a 60 minute team together."

"The defense is set for Dartmouth," McAnaney said. "I think that the main thing is quick catching and passing on transition."

Saturday's game also marked the last home game for Harvard's seniors, who include Walton, McAnaney, Downing, Emily Buxton, Joey Alissi, and Kelly Morrison.

"It was the seniors' last home game, and they tried to carry the lead," Kleinfelder said.