The Harvard men’s soccer team lost two tough games this weekend against formidable foes in San Franciso and Santa Clara at the Diadora Classic Tournament.

San Francisco, who hosts the annual event, went on to win the tournament after defeating both Santa Clara and Brown.

The Crimson (6-3-1, 1-0 Ivy) has a week of practice ahead as it tries to regroup for Saturday’s first home Ivy game against Cornell.

San Francisco 4, Harvard 1

San Francisco cruised to a 4-1 victory over Harvard on Friday night as it capitalized on an early red card infraction by Harvard junior Kevin Ara that forced the Crimson to play most of the match a man down.

Tournament co-MVPs Gabe Sturm (1 goal, 1 assist) and Josh Hansen (2 goals) provided most of the offense for the Dons (6-4-0).

Ara’s red card also meant that the Crimson’s leading scorer and last week’s Ivy League Player of the Week would have to sit out Sunday’s match as well.

Injuries to key players including senior defender Michael Lobach, sophomore goalkeeper James Roth and junior forward Grayson Sugarman are starting to catch up with the Crimson as it approaches some key Ivy League matches.

“After Kevin’s red card, we knew we were in for a fight,” said junior defender Andrew Nechtem. “But we’ve been in the position before where we’re down a goal or down a man and we were confident that we could come out on top.”

Playing under the lights in front of close to 1,000 fans helped the Crimson finally break out of its trend of sluggish first halves. Harvard was able to move the ball around well but its momentum was abruptly halted when Sturm bent a beautiful 35-yard free kick into the upper right corner of the Crimson goal.

Things got worse for Harvard in the 30th minute when the referee handed Ara the red card for a hard tackle near the sidelines. Still, solid midfield play by freshman Brian Charnock helped keep the Crimson within a goal at the half.

The Dons went up 2-0 just two minutes into the second half when Marko Bedenikovic headed in a Sturm cross.

But, despite being shorthanded and behind by two goals, Harvard did not pack it in. Senior Charles Morrow cut the deficit in half when he took a feed from Nechtem and ripped a shot from about 20 yards out that sailed over the keeper’s head and into the net.

It was as close as the Crimson would get, however, as two goals by Hansen in the 75th and 79th minutes wrapped up the victory for San Francisco in front of its home crowd.

Santa Clara 2, Harvard 0