The Crimson opened the weekend with high hopes for its Saturday morning matchup with the fifth-seeded Engineers, but left the pool dissatisfied. Despite having defeated MIT, 9-6, on Sept. 16th, Harvard faced a much more prepared squad than it did two months ago.

In atypical fashion, the pivotal contest evolved into a defensive struggle, with MIT (8-14, 3-3) taking only a 3-1 edge into the locker room at halftime.

“Both defenses clamped down, and everybody was in championship mode,” Farrar said.

Yet, after back-and-forth exchanges, it was the Engineers that broke through more often, riding their two-goal lead to a 7-5 victory. Although Atkinson could not pinpoint specific differences between the playoff contest and the regular season meeting between the squads, he credited MIT for peaking at the right time.

“I honestly felt that we played and fought harder in this second game [against the Engineers], but hats off to them for bringing it,” he said. “The truth is, they improved more over the season than we did.”

While all Crimson players and coaches expressed disappointment over the loss, the squad signaled its future potential as a slew of young players contributed offensively. Eliot scored twice, while DiSilvestro, Babic, and fellow sophomore Mike Katzer each added a tally. With a number of strong returning players, Harvard will look to build on the work of its graduating class and overcome some of the challenges of the 2009 season.

“We faced a lot of adversity this season ,and I feel that we got a lot tougher,” Lee said. “Things didn’t turn out [this season], but I feel like next year these experiences, and what the seniors have helped us to achieve, will really come in handy.”

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.