The No. 20 Harvard men’s lacrosse team’s undefeated run had to end at some point. On March 23, No. 16 Penn made sure the end came sooner rather than later.

Propelled by a three-goal effort by Mike Iannacone, the Quakers dealt the Crimson a 7-5 loss in its Ivy opener at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

The Quakers (5-1, 1-1 Ivy) didn’t spare Harvard (4-2, 0-1) the suspense, though. Trailing 6-2 in the second half, the Crimson rallied for three consecutive goals that closed the deficit to one heading into the final minutes. But Iannacone’s third strike of the day, plus a clutch stop on Harvard’s Doug Kocis in the closing seconds, sealed the win for Penn.

With the sting of that setback still fresh in its mind, the Crimson headed into its toughest challenge of the season last Saturday at Duke, where the No. 10 Blue Devils staved off a late Harvard surge to prevail 10-7.

After starting the year 4-0, the Crimson has suddenly dropped two straight games. Harvard will try to right the ship in time for its date with No. 12 Cornell at Jordan Field on Saturday.

Duke 10, Harvard 7

Back on their home turf at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C., the Blue Devils raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, avenging a 6-5 loss to Harvard last year at Jordan Field.

Despite Duke’s early lead, the Crimson entered halftime trailing only 6-4, thanks mainly to the one-man war waged by senior Derek Nowak against Duke in the first half. Nowak scored Harvard’s first goal—off a feed from rookie Mike McBride—to narrow the score to 3-1. Later, after the Blue Devils had struck twice more to push their lead to 5-1, Nowak scored again to keep Harvard’s hopes alive.

A Duke tally with seven minutes expired in the second quarter restored the Devils’ four-goal cushion. But then, at the 7:34 mark, the rest of the Harvard team finally got into the act, as juniors Doug Logigian and Matt Primm scored back-to-back unassisted goals to close out the half.

But the next 19:42 after Primm’s goal saw the Crimson go scoreless. Duke upped its lead to 9-4 during that span, putting the Crimson—who were outshot 34-23 entering the fourth quarter—in a deep hole.

Harvard refused to be buried, though, stringing together a three-goal spurt in the fourth quarter. Co-captain Jim Christian, sophomore Jeff Gottschall and junior Jay Wich all scored in rapid-fire succession—Wich’s strike came just eight seconds after Gottschall’s—to bring Harvard back within two goals.

But Duke held on, despite being outshot 11-7 in the final period. Blue Devil goalie A.J. Kincel recorded 13 saves on the afternoon, while sophomore Jake McKenna made 12 saves for Harvard.

Penn 7, Harvard 5

One week earlier, Harvard put a similar fourth-quarter scare into the Quakers before dropping its first decision of the season. Iannacone’s insurance goal with 5:13 left stopped some serious bleeding for Penn, whose string of second-half penalties had aided a 3-0 Crimson spurt.

The Harvard rally started late in the third quarter, when Crimson co-captain Michael Baly netted a goal at the 11:38 mark, trimming a 6-2 Penn lead to 6-3. That’s when the Quakers started shooting themselves in the foot. Repeatedly.

Harvard failed to convert on its first two prime opportunities, as the Quakers fought off back-to-back penalties. The Crimson managed a few quality shots during the two-minute sequence, but Kelly, who finished the game with 10 saves, turned them all away.

Penn almost even survived a three-minute penalty assessed to Alex Kopicki for playing with an illegal stick. But when yet another penalty was charged to Penn—this time to the Quaker bench, with 45 seconds still remaining on Kopicki’s infraction—it was too much for even Kelly to overcome. Wich broke through for Harvard, converting a feed to close within 6-4.

A goal by Gottschall moved Harvard within one with a lifetime—actually, 9:39—left to play.

But the Crimson could not break through again and Penn did not commit any more penalties. Harvard’s last good scoring chance—on Kocis’ attempt with just seconds left to play—was far too little, too late, as Kelly made a nice stop.

McKenna made 11 saves for Harvard in a losing effort. He made one stop in particular that left the Quakers scratching their heads, denying an open-net look in the fourth quarter that kept the Crimson in striking distance.