“Jake was unbelievable in net,” said Fried. “He gave us a chance to win, if not more.”

The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter. Twice, the Big Red pulled within a single goal, but sophomore midfielder Jake Samuelson and McBride each had goals to keep Cornell temporarily at bay.

The first half was more of the same, as neither team was able to pull away. The Big Red held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, but each time the Crimson was able to tie the game.

Samuelson got Harvard on the board late in the first quarter, tying the game up at one.

In the second quarter, the Crimson got goals from McBride and Kane but Cornell took greater advantage of its opportunities, tallying three times en route to a 4-3 lead at halftime.

Greg Cohen assisted on Kane’s goal, one of three assists for the freshman on the day.

Harvard’s talented man-up offense, which has scored 11 goals in 29 opportunities this season, never even made its way onto the field, as the Crimson committed both of the penalties in the contest.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Harvard has little time to dwell on it, as the team continues its Ivy play next week with a contest at Brown on Tuesday night before returning home for perhaps the most difficult game on its schedule against Princeton next Saturday.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Brown won’t,” said Fried. “We’ve just got to focus on our own game and get ready for Brown. Fifteen minutes after the Brown game is over, our focus will be Princeton.”

—Staff writer Jonathan P. Hay can be reached at hay@fas.harvard.edu.