CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.—A controversial goal in double-overtime lifted Boston College to a 1-0 victory over the Harvard field hockey team last night, seriously jeopardizing the Crimson’s hopes for an at-large NCAA bid.

Harvard’s surest hope for a spot in the NCAA tournament is to win the Ivy League title. Yesterday’s defeat makes Saturday’s game against Princeton all the more pivotal.

“I think people were really focused on [tonight’s] game,” said captain Katie Scott. “I’m not really sure what happened.”

No. 14 Princeton (7-5, 4-0 Ivy) currently shares the Ivy lead with No. 15 Harvard (9-4, 4-0). The game will likely decide this year’s Ivy champion, a title the Tigers have held for the past eight years. An automatic bid for the NCAA tournament is also at stake.

The game-winner from No. 19 BC (11-4) came six minutes into the second overtime. The ball was shot high by Eagle forward Lauren Schultz, and it hit Harvard freshman midfielder Jen McDavitt on the shoulder before rolling into the right corner of the goal. Harvard coach Sue Caples immediately confronted the officials, arguing that there should have been no goal because it was a dangerous ball.

“I thought that was a missed call,” Caples said.

Though the Crimson may have received a stroke of bad luck at a crucial moment, it failed to capitalize on its many opportunities. Harvard outshot BC 20-10 and received 12 penalty corners to the Eagles’ two.

“We did not challenge the goalkeeper enough today, we didn’t execute on our corners, and we spend a lot of time shooting and working on corners every single day,” Caples said. “We just weren’t finishing.”

Harvard had several missed opportunities in the game, the first coming early off of a shot from senior forward Philomena Gamble, which hit off the post and sailed harmlessly out of bounds.

The Crimson’s best scoring chance came in the beginning of the second overtime, when sophomore midfielder Shelley Maasdorp broke away from the Eagle’s defense deep in BC’s zone. But as Maasdorp dribbled to the goal, Eagle goalie Lauren Hill slid dove in front of her, sending both Maasdorp and the ball flying.

Though the ball was still free in front of the net, no Crimson player was close enough to gather the loose ball, and the Eagles were able to easily clear the ball out of their zone.

“If you don’t get the primary shot, you need to get the rebound, and we didn’t get the rebound,” Caples said.

On paper, little separated Harvard and BC before the game. The Crimson and the Eagles had the same record against common opponents, and prior to last night, both were 1-2 against currently ranked opponents.

Yet despite these similarities, Harvard felt it had the upper hand, riding a three-game win streak, while BC had dropped its past three contests. The Crimson had also shutout the Eagles the past two years, defeating them 5-0 and 2-0.

“I know what we’re capable of doing, and mentally, we were not 100 percent tonight,” Caples said.

Though Saturday’s game at Princeton is likely to decide the Ivy champion, the winner is not guaranteed the title. Both Princeton and Harvard have two remaining Ivy games after Saturday.

Yet since both teams are favored to win their other games, Saturday’s contest is a virtual must-win for the Crimson. Yet Harvard will likely need to improve on last night’s effort if it hopes to end the Tigers’ Ivy dynasty.

“We have a lot of work between now and then,” Caples said.

—Contributing writer Evan R. Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu