But Harvard kept pace with the Lions for a while, matching them goal-for-goal over the first 11 minutes of the first half. The Crimson couldn’t keep up, though, and two more Columbia goals broke the tie.
“They caught us on our heels at the beginning of the game,” Shaughnessy said. “I think it fueled us to try that much harder, looking up at the score, saying the score should not be what it is now.”
After performing below expectations in the first half of the period, junior goaltender Laura Mancini was pulled from the game and the outlook did not offer much promise.
Shaughnessy scored to pull the squad within one with 11:22 remaining before the teams traded goals to end the half.
With the beginning of the second half, Mancini returned to the game and, awakened by her benching, rose to the occasion.
Mancini turned away all but two of the 14 shots she faced in the period, including stopping a free position shot.
Stonewalling the Lions, Mancini saved point-blank shots on three occasions to set the stage for Shaughnessy’s heroics.
“The shots that they were getting in the first half were good shots,” Shaughnessy said. “When [Mancini] came back in the second half, it gave our team a huge boost, making save after save after save. It is what got us going.”
Despite turning the ball over 18 times and earning only two free-position opportunities, Harvard launched 25 shots Calidonia’s way, testing her repeatedly and ensuring that it was only a matter of time before she was beaten.
In previous games, the volume of shots on net has played a hand in deciding the Crimson’s fate—it has lost every game in which it could not manage at least 20 shots.
In the second half, Harvard converted on 50 percent of its efforts with Brooks finding the net twice and Shaughnessy, Sproul and sophomore midfielder Elaine Belitsos scoring once apiece, Belitsos for the second time on the afternoon.
Coach Kleinfelder’s legendary career draws to a conclusion as the Crimson rounds out its season next Saturday, squaring off against Cornell at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.