"We gave away a goal," Harvard coach Steve Locker said. "We just came out flat."

That tally must have gone off like an alarm at 6:00 a.m. for the Crimson.

Suddenly, Harvard stepped its game up to a whole new level, settling down and controlling much of the tempo of the game.

But once in gear, Lady Luck stepped in, denying sophomore Toure McCluskey a sure goal when his shot on a wide-open goal bounded off the right post, then off the left post, but not into the net.

It might have been a great 7-10 split in bowling, but for the soccer team, it was a heartbreaker.

To add injury to insult, McCluskey left the game towards the end of the first half feeling ill, further depleting the team's already ravaged front line.

To the Crimson's credit, it maintained its intensity, culminating in junior midfielder Will Kohler's fabulous, gritty second effort to set up junior forward Rich Wilmot for Harvard's only goal of the game.

But then, just as in so many of its recent games, the team lost control of the action again.

By the second overtime, Harvard was again suffering from bad passing and a lack of ball control, and they put little if any pressure on the Princeton net. It was only a matter of time before Princeton netted the game winner.

In retrospect, despite the convincing wins over Columbia, and later, Yale, the team seemed to be living on borrowed time.

At least three times this season, Harvard's games went into overtime. Two of those games were Ivy League games, Saturday's game and the Penn game two weeks ago.

Overtime games don't indicate a team's dominance, and eventually, you're going to lose a couple.

But in each game, the Harvard story was very similar: periods of brilliance were interspersed with periods of inconsistency.

Indeed, the team was every bit as resourceful as it was talented. In the Columbia game, for example, Harvard outshot Columbia by but one shot, yet came away with the 3-0 victory.

Why? Because it took better shots, and it played a controlled game. You could see this was a unit coming together. But the Crimson was not dominating: Harvard was smarter and played smarter.

Change the lineup week to week, and you lose that edge. And its numerous injuries forced them to do just that.

If Harvard had all its regulars available at any one point of the season, the Crimson might be headed to the NCAA's.

If McCluskey's shot went in, Harvard would have beaten Princeton 2-1 in regulation.

If, if, if.

Maybe it just wasn't the Crimson's year.