“We were just trying to score as many goals as we could,” Gannon said. “Our mentality was that we cannot start lying down. You can never sit back against a team like that.”

After the intermission, Hortillosa notched her second goal of the game and gave the Wolverines the lead on a shot off a controversial penalty corner a little over a minute and a half into the period.

The team contended that the Wolverines’ right wing left the circle early, planting herself before the corner officially began. In the ensuing argument with the referee, who declared the goal good, head coach Sue Caples was given a card and asked to leave the field.

“Their third goal hurt us a lot mentally,” McDavitt said. “It was their second corner in a row, and the decision [on the goal] stunned us.”

Then, under a minute later, Morris altered the path of a Mary Fox pass past Remtilla and pushed Michigan’s advantage to two.

The Crimson could not crack the Wolverine defense and managed only one shot in the entire course of the second period.

“It’s unfortunate,” Gannon said. “We think that we’re certainly good enough to play with them, and it’s a shame that we just didn’t get the job done in the second half.”

For the game, Michigan owned a 15-5 edge in shots and an 8-2 advantage in penalty corners. Thus far this season, Harvard is 4-1 in games it has more penalty corners that its opponent and 1-2 in games it has fewer.

“We don’t think that we should lose the rest of the season,” McDavitt said. “We know we have the team to beat in the Ivies, in the region. The first half [against Michigan] we played to win, but in the second we just sort of settled too much and played to hold on.”

HARVARD 2, NORTHWESTERN 1

After a scoreless first period, a pair of Maasdorp goals proved to be enough for the Crimson to roll on.

Ten minutes into the second frame, Candice Cooper put the Wildcats on the board with her 12th goal of the season and the first tally of the game.

But after taking only four shots in the first half, Harvard ripped off 11 in the second, the two biggest coming from the senior from Zimbabwe.

Down 1-0 60 minutes into the 70-minute game, the Crimson desperately needed a score to avoid the upset. Enter Maasdorp.

“She was just really fired up,” Gannon said. “It’s obviously tough to come back, but we’ve done it before. We have that confidence, and [Shelley’s] energy converted into some really great goals. That was just what we needed.”