“Everyone steps up at different moments, which is so great because if someone’s off, somebody else will pick up the slack,” Christino said.

The Crimson won’t be satisfied with just staying in the game and earning a moral victory.

“We’re sick of losing close games,” Shaughnessy said. “We want to win.”

The fact that it’s the Tigers would just make a victory that much sweeter.

“There’s definitely a rivalry there,” Shaughnessy said. “We don’t like Princeton.”

What’s more, the Harvard players think they can win.

“They’re a great team and we have a lot of respect for their athleticism,” Christino said. “But there are a lot of things that can influence a game.”

Men

After having started the season 4-0, the Harvard men have fallen precipitously, dropping four consecutive games to nationally-ranked opponents—7-5 to then-No. 19 Penn, 10-7 to then-No. 11 Duke, 11-4 to then-No. 10 Cornell and 9-8 to then-No. 20 Brown.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Crimson after Princeton, either, as Harvard’s next two games are at No. 8 UMass and No. 14 Yale.

Harvard has managed to topple ranked opponents in its recent past. The highlight of the Crimson’s 2001 campaign was a 6-5 victory over then-No. 12 Duke.

Harvard has the talent to pull off a similar upset this year. It will just be a matter of putting together a complete, 60-minute game—something the Crimson has struggled with all season.

“We’re real close to putting all four quarters together,” sophomore midfielder Jeff Gottschall said. “We’re ready to go.”

Inherent in that goal is avoiding the mental mistakes and turnovers that have led to so many fast-break and man-down goals for Harvard’s opponents.