Better than 45 minutes into Friday's game against New Hampshire at Jordan Field, it looked like the Harvard field hockey team, which was trailing 4-1 at the time, would fail its first major test of the young season.

But four unanswered goals, the last coming on a tip-in by junior forward Kate Nagle 5:12 into overtime, gave the Crimson a stunning 5-4 victory over the No. 14 Wildcats. Harvard followed that win by breezing past Columbia's fledgling field hockey program 4-1 on Sunday, giving the Crimson its best start in nine seasons.

Sophomore midfielder Eliza Dick scored twice against UNH, giving her a team-high five goals on the season, while tri-captain Dominique Kalil posted an assist on Friday and two sparkling scores on Sunday to give her a team-best 14 points.

With the weekend sweep, the Crimson (4-0, 1-0 Ivy) is off to its best start since 1990, when it finished 11-5-1 and won its first Ivy League title.

"Being 4-0 is a good confidence boost, but we can't ride on our record," Kalil said. "We're off to a great start, but we've got tough games coming up with Connecticut and Yale."

Harvard 4, Columbia 1

The Lions (1-3, 0-1 Ivy), which began competing in Ivy League field hockey in 1997, had been outscored 9-1 by the Crimson in two previous meetings.

Sunday's game followed suit, as two first-half scores by Kalil helped Harvard stake a 3-1 lead at the intermission and cruise through the second half to bag its Ivy opener.

Both of Kalil's goals came on left-to-right moves around the circle. Nagle keyed the first, with 26:16 remaining in the first half, by sending a long pass down the left sideline for Kalil, who had slipped behind the Columbia defense.