Brooks nearly netted her second goal of the game, but shot off Caggiano’s helmet.

Then, with 14:06 to play, Pierpont, who also stars on Brown’s field hockey team, probably cost herself a lot of birthday money. The sophomore, who has many close relatives who are Harvard alums, completed her hat trick to tie the score, forcing Harvard to call timeout.

When play resumed, Mancini made another of her nine saves, but Caggiano answered on a free position shot from junior Katie O’Brien to the lower left corner of the goal.

A minute later, Rottenberg pulled Brown ahead. Then, Katie Russell scored on a free position shot to give the Bears the 9-7 advantage.

When Kutner received a questionable red card with 6:58 to play, things looked bleak for the Crimson. But the players stayed calm.

“Really, there wasn’t a question,” Christino added. “I knew that we were going to come back.”

When Belitsos couldn’t convert on an opportunity with 5:15 to play, it didn’t look that way.

But Moroz pulled the Crimson within one. Harvard squandered a golden opportunity to tie the score when it missed a free position shot with four minutes to play, but freshman attacker Casey Owens came through in the clutch, scoring on a post-up move off a feed from junior defender Bernadette Devine.

With 35 seconds remaining in regulation, Gotha slid into the fence surrounding the field to win the ball and send the game to overtime.

In the end, the game belonged to the seniors, who had waited the longest to have a winning record and now stand to play at least once more before their Harvard careers come to an end.

“The whole experience of Harvard lacrosse has meant a lot to each senior,” Christino said. “To be able to go out there at least one more time and give it everything that you have just makes it a great day.”