In what could have been the most important game of the year for the Harvard men's soccer team, Princeton clawed its way back from an early deficit to defeat the Crimson 2-1 Saturday afternoon at Ohiri Field.

The Crimson (2-8-2, 1-3 Ivy) was hoping to use the match to leapfrog out of its doldrums in the bottom half of the Ivy League standings, but the Tigers (9-3-1, 4-1 Ivy) proved too tough and took control of the conference with the comeback win.

"Losing that game was hard to take, especially since we thought we were better than them," junior captain Ryan Kelly said.

Sophomore Tiger Graeme Rein took a pass from senior captain Chad Adams at 75:08 and unleashed a laser shot from 30 yards out that flew past sophomore Harvard goalkeeper Mike Meagher and gave Princeton the lead it needed.

The Crimson was unable to nail an equalizer in the final 15 minutes.

"We felt good going into the second half," Harvard senior forward Will Hench said. "We had the wind going our way and kept the ball in their territory most of the time, but were unable to capitalize."

Harvard came out in the first half with a blistering start, giving hope for a win early on in the contest.

Just 1:37 into the game, Hench headed a perfectly-placed corner from senior teammate Armando Petruccelli past Tiger goalie Jason White into the far post.