The Harvard backfield has been stellar. Last Saturday against Yale, sophomore Hilary Walton led a stifling defense, blanking her twin sister Amanda, who leads the Ivy in scoring with 10 goals. And Cowan allows just 1.64 goals per game and boasts a .857 save percentage, which is tops among all Ivy keepers.

But the Crimson gave away its first scoring opportunity with 6:41 remaining in the second half, when a shot off a UMass penalty corner hit Walton in the foot, resulting in an automatic penalty stroke, which Millbauer converted.

"Usually we bounce back from giving up goals," Badawy said. "But we just let them start receiving the ball, and we weren't very organized."

UMass sophomore sweeper Anke Bruemmer, the UMass big hitter on corners, drove home a straight shot with 20:35 remaining in the second to tie the score at 2-2, before Millbauer tallied the eventual game-winner, once more on a rebound generated by a corner attempt. Millbauer was able to find a hole in the crowded circle and beat Cowan after picking up the leftovers of a shot by Bruemmer.

In its 5-4 UNH win, the Crimson surrendered all four goals in penalty corner situations, two to Kelly Stowe, a hard-hitting sweeper like Bruemmer.

"We have a pretty good corner defense," Badawy said. "At Yale, our corner defense was on. We gave up a couple of opportunities in a row, but we were just on. Today we had different things thrown at us and it's our own fault for not adjusting sooner."

The Minutewomen's 3-5 record is deceptive, as all five of their losses have come against teams ranked in the Top 12, including No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Maryland. UMass Coach Patty Shea often front-loads her schedule against tough ACC programs, and has taken her club to the NCAA Tournament in each of her first two years at the helm.