In the second half, Harvard had fewer opportunities on offense as the Hawks backed the Crimson into its end and mounted a prolonged challenge on the Harvard defense.

"I think we got a little too nervous about not making a mistake," Wheaton said. "That's counterproductive sometimes."

The Hawks battled viciously to pull off a tie, but, with so much at stake in the game, Harvard played just as physically as Hartford. The officials called 28 fouls in the game.

"We answered their toughness with a bit of our own," Yenne said. "We had a goal today: we wanted to win. And I think our play and our aggressiveness really showed it out there on the field."

At no time was that aggressiveness more evident than in the 52nd minute, when freshman back Kathleen Ferguson--making her second postseason start after turning in an incredible effort against Quinnipiac--collided with a Hartford forward and suffered a concussion. Ferguson lay on the field for 10 minutes and had to be lifted from the game.

The incident, however, served to rally the Crimson together to withstand the ongoing Hartford surge.

"I think [our team] got a little determined," Wheaton said. "I think they thought, 'Hey, we're not going to let them push us around. We've got something to prove and let's go out and do it.'"

Despite having difficulties clearing the ball out of the defensive end, the Harvard backs won countless battles for loose balls and contested most shots. Though the Hawks reeled off eight attempts in the second half, the Harvard defense prevented many open looks, and sophomore goalkeeper Cheryl Gunther was forced to make just four saves in the game.