“Michigan State has a great offense,” Zacarian said. “They were in the right place at the right time, all the time. They are quick. To their credit, they did a great job being in a good threatening space. They capitalized on their opportunities.”
Caples said she had talked to the team about not conceding early, but Harvard did just that. Right from the opening whistle, the Crimson passed the ball back and turned it over.
Within 70 seconds, Harvard surrendered its first corner. Within seven minutes, Harvard had surrendered its second corner and Michigan State’s first goal.
“We needed to make sure we came out strong in the first half and not try to play catch-up,” McDavitt said.
Harvard finally sustained some momentum 12 minutes into the second half and won its first corner, which Andrews converted to make the score 1-1.
Multimedia
Upon tying the game, Harvard went on the defensive again. At the 16-minute mark, the Crimson surrendered a breakaway, but Zacarian cut it off. In a similar situation two minutes later, Zacarian made the initial save and stretched out to stop the rebound from going in, but she couldn’t quite close the door on the far corner.
Harvard’s second goal was set up as Pell received the ball in front of the net from Gambale. With her impenetrable back to her defender, Pell powered the ball inside the far post to tie the game 2-2 at the 28:43 mark.
Because the Crimson could not tie the game in the end, this year’s NCAA tournament went down as another postseason learning experience instead of a victory celebration. But with only two seniors graduating from this year’s team, there will be plenty to build on.
“Tournament experience is really great, we love being here, and we’re going to be right back in this position next year,” Zacarian said. “[Next year] will be here soon enough, and we’ll be able to come back again with all we’ve learned and our progress, so we’re excited.”
—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.
Michigan St. 4, Field Hockey 3
at Jordan Field
NCAA First Round
Harvard (12-6) 2 1 — 3
Michigan St. (22-2) 4 0 — 4
Scoring: M, Keyser 7:18. H, Andrews (Egnaczyk, Ahn) 13:48. M, Michelle Hunh-Ba 21:18. H, Pell (Gambale) 27:43. M, Carstens (Beerman) 31:24. M, Martin 33:44. H, Andrews (Egnaczyk, Ahn) 68:43. Shots: H 5-20 25, M 9-2 11. Penalty Corners: H 2-8 10, M 4-2 6. Goalies: H, Zacarian (3). M, Kirkaldy (5). A: 487.