Totman's goal at 10:31 came off what was the last in a series of corners for the Crimson in a span of only a few minutes.

One goal up, however, the Crimson began to slow the pace and lose challenges that could have been there.

"I don't think we anticipated their energy and fire, because beating Harvard--doing well against us--means so much to them," Zotter said. "First touches were off all over the place, and we lost a couple of balls in the air that we should have had, but that just happens some times. The important thing is that we bounced back and played much better later on."

But the turnaround took some time. For most of the first half, the Crimson walked all over Brown's offensive third, still confused about the most effective approach to Brown's defensive formation.

With only two players in Brown's midfield for most of the game, however, Harvard eventually figured it out.

"Their system left a lot of the midfield open, and if we switched the ball in the midfield we usually found the off-side to be wide-open," Totman said.

The constant horizontal movement paid off in the 45th minute, when midfielder Orly Ripmaster found herself wide open in the center of the field, 25 yards from goal.