Similarly against Queens College, which the Crimson had also upended earlier in the season, the level of intensity was higher than normal circumstances would have dictated.

“We didn’t want to be too complacent going into the game,” Falkner said. “They had a couple of strong, physical players, which is another reason why we didn’t want Teresa to go in.”

Harvard dominated from start to finish and any chance of a victory for the Knights disappeared when they were forced to play shorthanded.

Having brought only eight players, Queens had to play six versus five when one player was removed on account of injury and another was ejected from the game as a result of three kick-outs—the equivalent of a trip to the penalty box in hockey.

Capitalizing on the advantage, the Crimson slowed the pace of play and ran out the clock to finish off the 10-4 victory.

The team returns to action when it makes its first appearance in Blodgett Pool this Wednesday night against Dartmouth.

“I think we’re going to work a lot more on offensive strategy and on counterattacks,” Falkner said. “This game against Dartmouth will be a good opportunity to practice a lot of the things we had problems with.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.