Entering the season, the Harvard field hockey team loomed as confident as Wyatt Earp with a pair of loaded six-shooters.

Against No. 18 Dartmouth on Saturday, however, the Crimson couldn't pull the trigger, losing to the Big Green in overtime, 1-0.

"Inability to finish remains our problem," said Harvard Coach Sue Caples. "We have to find that little bit extra. It's not as simple as it once was."

The loss kept Harvard (6-10, 2-4 Ivy) mired in a three-game stretch of shutout losses. Over that span, opponents have outscored the Crimson, 8-0.

On the day after Halloween, Harvard couldn't exorcise another hex: its losing streak on the road. After pummeling Rhode Island 4-0 in its season opener, the Crimson has now dropped seven straight road contests.

"It's rubbish--total nonsense," said sophomore Dominique Kalil. "It's all mental. If we had played [Yale and the University of Vermont] at home, we would have beaten them, no question."

Harvard lost contests against these two teams by identical 1-0 scores. These losses, coupled with another 1-0 loss to the University of New Hampshire on Sept. 14, reflected an inability to finish which has punctuated the season.

"Those games will be critical next season," Kalil said. "We need to come up with those wins. They're an incentive for the rest of the season."

Against the Big Green, though, the Crimson stayed close, which was also emblematic of its season.

"I'm not sure we had problems," Caples said. "It was an even game--very tight and competitive."

"We were very equally matched," Kalil said. "Dartmouth was lucky in scoring."

The Big Green snatched the game away with eight minutes remaining in the first period of overtime.

A pass by a Dartmouth forward moved sophomore Anya Cowan laterally to make the save.

The forward, though, pushed the ball past Cowan to a player waiting at the other end of the goal. Sophomore Katie Schoolwerth made a valiant effort to save the shot by diving, but the ball went in the net.

Dartmouth's excited reaction reflected a new feature to the season: opponents that considered Harvard an underdog last year now treat the Crimson with more respect.