"We were definitely more of an underdog last year," Caples said. "Now, teams are aware we have a very talented team. Teams respect us and take us seriously."
Cowan has garnered substantial respect through her performance in net. She has collected four shutouts thus far in the season, matching last year's total.
Against the Big Green, Cowan generated momentum for the Crimson by making a stick save on a penalty stroke and batting it out.
"It was one of the best saves I've ever seen her make," Kalil said. "The girl went to stroke and placed it to Anya's left and in the left-hand top corner, which is an excellent place to put it. Usually, strokes are given goals. Anya is a solid rock in our cage."
Buoyed, Harvard dominated for ten minutes following Cowan's effort.
The overtime period, however, haunted the Crimson.
"We didn't quite get on track in overtime," Caples said. "We were just trying to get possession and made a couple of miscues."
During regulation, Harvard did manufacture scoring opportunities, attacking both sides to counter Dartmouth's up-the-middle strategy.
"We had good combinations," Caples said. "We were moving the ball well from the attacking 15s."
Again, though, inability to execute plagued the Crimson.
"We lacked a spark or something," Kalil said. "We definitely had a few chances; [junior] Judy Collins had some great breakaways. But we never capitalized."
Ironically, the Crimson won last year's contest against Dartmouth, taking a 1-0 overtime decision.
"Last year, we came up with wins," Kalil said. "Something was lacking this year."
However, in the Crimson's shutout streak, the team has played three ranked opponents: Princeton, Northeastern and Dartmouth. Further reflecting this high caliber of opposition, Dartmouth took Princeton to strokes.
"Dartmouth is a great team," Kalil said. "They just wanted it more than we did. It's really disappointing."
Adding to the disappointment, the team had tried to revive its spirits in the locker room before Saturday's game.
"We were saying, 'We're not going to end the season like this,'" Kalil said.
Harvard will have one more chance to redeem itself when it travels to Brown next Saturday.
"We want to end on a big bang," Kalil said. "We have nothing to lose. We're playing for ourselves. We want to take Brown down.
"Brown is a turf team, and we have a lot to prove. It's an away game and a turf game and we need the win. We'll be psyched."