Though Harvard welcomed back senior defender Jason Andersen to the lineup after a two-game break following a toe injury, the back line found itself without the services of defender Sam Wiggin and sophomore Tom Stapleton. Seniors Zach Chandis and Ben Mottau started in place of the two absentee players

“Those are two big players for us,” Kerr said. “But we’re a little bit more offensive-minded when we have those guys in there.”

Wiggin was not allowed to play in yesterday’s game after receiving a red card during the Providence match on Tuesday. Stapleon missed his third straight game as a precaution after being diagnosed this week with a minor concussion, but Kerr insisted that he would be back by the end of the week.

SLIP AND SLIDE

With just 10 minutes left to play in the first half, the good weather that had been holding for most of the day broke, and a slight drizzle started to create problems for players looking for a hold on the ground. In the second half alone, junior goalie Ryan Johnson slipped and fell twice after taking a goal kick.

“We did have a good bit of rain last night, which did make the field a bit soft [when it started to rain again],” Cook said. “Both sets of players were having trouble with their footing.”

But the extra precipitation did help with celebration ideas, as several of the Big Green players used the slickness of the grass to slide on their stomachs after scoring the winning goal with 1:03 left to play.

—Staff writer Evan R. Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu.