"Our confidence coming into this game was already low and that first goal killed us," Kerr said. " It was a shot to our confidence."

The previously strong Harvard defense then weakened, shortly thereafter allowing a second and third goal within merely a minute of each other.

At 73:48, Cornell's Adam Skumawitz managed to poke the ball past Mejias on a breakaway, and at 74:35, Cornell's Lewis Vaughn, sliding to his left, struck the ball off the right post and into the Harvard goal.

More than anything else, these two goals were a result of the demoralizing effects cast on the Harvard team by the first goal.

So with only 15:25 left to play, and Cornell ahead 3-0, all that remained to be seen was whether Cornell's four-game shutout streak would continue.

With the Harvard team down after three Cornell goals within a 15-minute span, the shutout streak seemed safe. But at 84:14, senior midfielder Armando Petruccelli broke through the stingy Cornell defense, and scored an unassisted goal.

Before any further charge could be mounted, time expired, and with it, so did Harvard's hopes of winning as well as any realistic shot at the Ivy League crown.

However, some rays of light did emerge from the darkness that tainted this game.