HANOVER, N.H.--When it snows, it pours.

And when the first flakes of the season fell from the sky during Saturday's Harvard-Dartmouth field hockey game, the Crimson knew that it was playing on the Big Green's terms. Dartmouth had an avalanche of support behind it, and a Harvard victory would not be easy.

So amidst the frozen tundra of Chase Field, the Big Green snow-balled the Crimson by a 2-0 count to deny Harvard (5-12, 1-5 Ivy) a chance at winning its last game of the season.

"Dartmouth played strong for 70 minutes," Harvard coach Sue Caples said. "They played hard and created a lot of opportunities."

Good luck was the Big Green's (11-5, 4-2) reward for its hard work, as is often the case. With 11:39 to go in the first half, Harvard freshman Tara La Sovage turned her ankle, allowing Dartmouth's Allison Pell to take the ball towards the goal from the right side unmarked.

Pell then meant to strike a hard slapshot, but the ball shanked off her stick and blooped over the right shoulder of Harvard co-captain goaltender Jessica Milhollin. Chalk one up for Lady Luck.

The Big Green tallied the game's final goal less than four minutes later, when Pell broke free from her defender again around the midfield stripe. Rumbling down the right side-line, she found teammate Amy Coughlin open at the top of the circle and directed a long pass her way.

Before Milhollin could cover the left side of the cage, Coughlin skipped the ball past her into the corner for a 2-0 lead.

These goals changed what had been a back-and-forth game into a one-sided affair. The Crimson, which had some chances to score early, never got its frozen offense rolling again.

"[The two goals] definitely were demoralizing," said senior Maureen O'Brien, who played her final game along with Milhollin and co-captain Carrie Shumway. "We got into a hole."

In the second half, the Harvard defense did a better job of containing Dartmouth, holding the Big Green to only three shots. But at the same time, the Crimson also only shot thrice, making it difficult to come back from a two-goal deficit.

That inability to do more than one thing at a time killed Harvard on Saturday. Never did the Crimson put it all together.

"Dartmouth outplayed us," Shumway said. "We maintained a level of play and never really brought it up."

Harvard's only offense on the day came early in the first half. With 20 minutes to go in the period, freshman Judy Collins sped towards the Big Green cage and rolled a shot past Dartmouth goaltender Lauren Demski, but a defender smacked the ball away from danger.

Two minutes later, O'Brien had a similar breakaway, but she lost control of the ball when trying to get by Demski.