After an up-and-down season plagued with tough losses, the Harvard women’s lacrosse team ended its year on a high note with the ECAC title and its first winning season since 1996.

The Crimson (9-7) earned a 9-8 victory over No. 18 Johns Hopkins (10-8) in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship at Homewood Field. With the win, Harvard not only beat the defending champion, but also registered its first triumph against top-20 competition.

“This is the icing on the cake,” said sophomore goalkeeper Laura Mancini. “We already finished with the first season over .500 in a long time. This is a great win for the seniors. The program has really gained a lot of strength over the years.”

Harvard came into the game relaxed and built up an 9-5 lead on the strength of three unanswered goals going into the last three minutes.

“I think we went into it really loose and psyched to play—it’s the first time we’ve been in postseason play in six years,” co-captain Hilary Walton said. “We were out there to have fun, with no Ivy standing to worry about.”

But before Harvard could celebrate, the Crimson had to fend off a last-ditch rally from the Blue Jays. Harvard came through in the last minute and a half by winning the draw and running out the clock.

Sophomore midfielder Jen Brooks notched a hat trick in the win while Mancini registered 15 saves and was named the game’s most valuable player.

Brooks was not alone in her scoring feat as Meghan Burnett led Johns Hopkins’ with a hat trick and two assists.

Both teams were held scoreless in the first half until Johns Hopkins took a 1-0 lead at 18:29 when Jamie Larrimore scored, assisted by Erin Wellner.

Harvard not only evened the score but went ahead with two goals from Brooks, assisted by Leslie Moroz and Shaughnessy and an unassisted goal from junior Katie Shaughnessy for a 3-1 lead at 8:21.

“We’ve had some issues closing out games and we realized we had to take it out early,” Mancini said. “We tried to create things for each other. People were really looking to pass and looking to shoot.”

The Blue Jays retaliated when Christy Peterson scored off of a feed from Burnett at 4:35, but the Crimson restored the two-goal cushion with an unassisted goal from senior Heather Gotha at 2:17 to put Harvard ahead 4-2 at halftime.

The second half opened with an exchange of goals from the Crimson and Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays struck first, just 58 seconds into the half, when Burnett cut Harvard’s lead to one, assisted by Erin Riordan. The Crimson responded at 23:18 with a goal from Walton from a pass by senior Melissa Christino to put Harvard up 5-3.

“I had a great feed from Melissa Christino, who’s an awesome passer,” Walton said. “She puts the ball on your stick at the perfect time. She feeds you even when you don’t even know you’re open. I cut across the eight-meter and she hit me. I had some momentum going into the goal and that just got the goalie off-center.”

Johns Hopkins cut the lead to 5-4 with a goal from Heidi Pearce at 21:09, but the Crimson went on a three-goal tear, all unassisted, that would secure the win.