Adding one more goal as the second quarter drew to a close, the Crimson led by four heading into halftime.
The Big Green exploded out of the gate to start the second half, coming out on the attack early and heading straight for Harvard’s goal.
Dartmouth finally got on the board by drawing an off-the-ball foul in front of the Crimson goal as the two squads sprinted towards the other end. Quickly taking possession Dartmouth found the back of the net before Harvard returned to a set defense.
The Big Green continued its attempt to mount a comeback, winning a kickout—a brief man advantage—with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter and scoring almost instantly, capitalizing before the penalized swimmer even made her way outside of the playing area.
“I think that they scored most of their goals in man-up situations,” Gardner said. “I guess our defense just got frustrated or confused.”
Complicating matters for the Crimson, Dartmouth had stepped up its defensive effort, pushing Harvard’s swimmers further away from the goal mouth than they had previously been.
Before the third quarter came to an end, the margin between the two squads was a single goal. With all the momentum, the Big Green appeared poised to seize control of the game entirely.
Picking up where it left off, Dartmouth came out firing to start the fourth, threatening to draw level.
But the Crimson weathered the storm behind the stellar goaltending of junior Elana Miller, who had entered at halftime, and quickly blew the game wide open.
Codini added two more to her scoring tally, her last goal occuring in a one on one as she hurled the ball past both the defender and keeper to increase the lead to four.
Co-captain Tiana Peterson also scored once and freshman Arin Keyser’s goal, with a defender draped over back with a minute to go, clinched the victory.
The Harvard women’s water polo team next returns to action in its final tournament of the season,—the Eastern Championships—held April 25-27 at Blodgett Pool.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu