For the second year in a row, the Harvard women’s lacrosse team couldn’t translate the momentum from an exhilarating victory over a nationally-ranked Boston University team into success in Ivy play.

The Crimson (4-4, 0-2 Ivy) never led in its 8-6 defeat at Penn (4-5, 2-2) yesterday, but never trailed by more than two goals. Junior Katie Shaughnessy and senior Heather Gotha led Harvard with two goals each and sophomore goalkeeper Laura Mancini made three of her six saves late in the game to keep the Crimson within striking distance.

It was the second narrow defeat that Harvard had suffered in as many Ivy games this year, having fallen by one goal to No. 12 Yale in its Ivy opener one week earlier. The 9-8 nailbiter marked the fifth straight year that Harvard had lost to the Elis by exactly one goal.

On Saturday, the Crimson closed within 7-6 with 5:40 left after Gotha scored her second goal to cut the Penn deficit in half. But the Quakers’ Crissy Book finished off a hat trick with her 12th goal in league play this season at the 2:17 mark to extend the Quaker lead back to two.

Harvard put several shots on Penn goalkeeper Alaina Harper in the final minutes, but could not get any closer.

Harper finished with 10 saves on the day.

Slow starts by the Crimson in each half were the difference in the game. Harvard trailed 2-0 after the first three minutes of the game. In the second half, the Crimson trailed by two after 4:04 despite being tied at halftime.

After Penn netted its second goal to go up 2-0 early in the first half, Crimson midfielder Leslie Moroz scored just 31 seconds later to narrow the gap. No one scored again until senior defender Erin Kutner set up Shaughnessy to tie the game at two with 2:46 left in the half.

Book put Penn back ahead with 1:05 remaining, but Gotha scored her first goal of the game with just 21 seconds left to knot the score 3-3 at halftime.

Any momentum Harvard might have had following its comeback was quickly dissipated as Penn regained its two-goal lead at 5-3 after the break. The Crimson and Quakers traded goals one-for-one for the rest of afternoon.

Shaughnessy scored Harvard’s fourth goal, and freshman Bessie Clark, who assisted on Shaughnessy’s tally, notched the fifth Harvard goal.

Each second-half Crimson score cut the Penn lead to one, but the tying goal remained elusive.

The loss to the Quakers, who finished fifth in the Ivies last year, dims the Crimson’s hopes for a solid finish in the Ivy standings. The league schedule doesn’t get any easier with a game at Jordan against No. 2 Princeton on Saturday, and games against No. 8 Cornell and No. 14 Dartmouth later in the year.

Columbia, who has never won an Ivy game in its history, and Brown, who edged out the Crimson to place sixth in the league last year, are the only Ivy teams besides Harvard and Penn that aren’t ranked in the national top 20.

PENN 8, W. LACROSSE 6

at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, Pa.

Penn (5-4, 2-2) 3 5 — 8

Harvard (4-5, 0-2) 3 3 — 6

Scoring: H Goals: Shaughnessy 2, Gotha 2, Clark, Moroz. H Assists: Kunter, Belitsos, Clark. P Goals: Book 3, Spofford 2, Murray, Hartman, Marabella. P Assists—Kaden, Polk-Williams, Horton. Saves: H Mancini 6, M Harper 10.