Some weekends just don't go as planned.

The Harvard men's lacrosse team (3-4, 1-1 Ivy) traveled to Ithaca, N.Y. last weekend with high expectations for its contest against Cornell (4-3, 2-1). However, those hopes were crushed in a decisive 13-7 Big Red victory.

"We were definitely disappointed," sophomore midfielder Roger Buttles said. "We wanted to be undefeated in the Ivies, and we thought we would be on a roll with a victory over Cornell. But we have to give Cornell credit. They played well."

With goals from senior midfielder Pat Dutton and senior attackman Josh Morgan, Cornell jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Then, Harvard defenseman Michael Meagher went coast-to-coast to put Harvard on the board with 3:11 remaining in the first period.

But the Big Red countered a mere 11 seconds later with another goal and a fourth goal two minutes later. The first quarter ended with Cornell up, 4-1.

There was to be no Crimson comeback.

"They came out really strong and took us by surprise in the beginning, but we can't use that as an excuse," Buttles said.

Thirty-two seconds into the second quarter, Harvard attacker Dana Sprong, assisted by junior midfielder Geoff Watson, scored to bring Harvard within two goals. However, that was the closest Harvard would get to Cornell for the remainder of the game.

Cornell's Dutton, Morgan, and senior attackman Sean Steinwald each added a goal in the second quarter to give the Big Red a 7-3 lead going into halftime.