“McBride’s shooting today was strong,” Chandis said. “He has a knack for molding opposing defenses the way he wants, like Playdough.”

Freshman attack Colin Macleod continued the onslaught, taking a pass from Primm in front and sliding it into the net.

Eckler added a goal for the Hawks to make the score 6-3, but Primm quickly responded with two strikes.

For the first, he took a pass from senior midfielder Jay Wich and ripped a shot, putting Harvard back up by four.

Primm tallied his next goal when he cut across the crease, caught a pass from Johnson, who was stationed behind the net, and took a quick shot that beat Greene.

The game was Primm’s first action of the year. He missed the Crimson’s season-opening, 10-2 loss to Bucknell with pneumonia. Primm had two goals and four assists in his season debut.

Harvard was also bolstered by the return of junior midfielder Jeff Gottschall, who missed the Bucknell game with a high ankle sprain.

“Even though Jeff wasn’t at 100 percent, it was great to get those guys back,” McBride said. “We have such a young team.”

Johnson closed out the scoring by taking a pass from Primm and making a beautiful dodge before depositing the ball in the back of the net, securing the Crimson’s first win.

Harvard outshot Hartford 16-1 in the fourth period.

The Crimson defeated the Hawks in almost every statistical category. In particular, junior midfielder Alex Vap continued his face-off dominance, winning 12 times in 16 opportunities.

“Face-offs were key,” Chandis said. “Alex did a great job winning them.”

Although Harvard outshot Hartford 41-16, it was only able to put 26 of those shots on net.

“Shooting is something that we really need to work on, and have been working on in practice,” McBride said.

Harvard hits the road next weekend, meeting Fairfield on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Crimson defeated the Stags 10-8 at Jordan Field last season, with McBride and Wich each scoring two goals.