Freshman Todd Forman's second goal of the game at the beginning of the third period put Harvard up, 5-2, but the aquamen started to falter against the Engineers.

The Crimson missed a power-play opportunity and Kaoki Jackson responded on the other end of the pool to cut MIT's deficit to two goals. Following freshman Peter Richard's missed shot on another man-up situation, Will Schror's third goal of the game pulled the Engineers to within one, 5-4. When goalie Paul Wysocki saved Harvard Co-Captain Eric Bentley's next shot, it looked like the Crimson was in jeopardy of losing its Top-20 national ranking.

"The MIT game was much too close of a game for who we were playing," Marshall said. "We started out very slow, but we came back really strong in the second half."

Harvard dominated the final nine minutes of the game to pull out the victory. Freshman Mike Johnson scored with two minutes remaining in the third period to up Harvard's advantage to two. Following a Bentley steal, Branca scored his first goal of the night with a shot which tipped off Wysocki's hands and into the net. Richards' goal put the aquamen comfortably up, 8-4, at the end of the third quarter.

Richards, Forman, Marshall and senior Joe Kaufman each tallied two goals, and Greg Beber saved 10 shots in Harvard's third win of the year over the Engineers.

Harvard's defense again rose to the challenge in the Crimson's 10-3 blowout of UMass on Saturday Beber was rarely challenged, having to record seven saves while holding the Minutemen to only three goals, the lowest output of any Harvard opponent this year.

Goals by sophomore Jon Miller and freshman Alex Yelensky put the Minutemen up, 2-0, in the first five minutes of the game. But Johnson, Kaufman, and freshman Kio Lippitt converted power-play goals to give Harvard a 4-2 halftime lead.

Leading, 6-3, with two minutes remaining in the third period, Harvard stopped two consecutive UMass man-up situations, and freshman Steve Kan and Andy Freed combined for three power-play goals to finish off the Minutemen.

Harvard converted six of eight man-advantage opportunities and held UMass to only one power-play goal in six chances.

Freed and Kan scored early goals in Saturday's nightcap to stake Harvard to a 2-0 lead against Yale. Johnson's two goals and Bentley's goal extended Harvard's lead to 5-2 at the end of the first half.

Backup goalie Scott Frewing saved eight shots.