On senior night, the defense of the future held up its end of the bargain. The offense of the future did not.

The Harvard men’s lacrosse team (7-6, 2-4 Ivy) was held scoreless by the Dartmouth defense over the final 37 minutes of the game as the No. 20 Big Green (8-5, 3-3) defeated the Crimson 6-2 at Jordan Field on Saturday.

“We were getting our shots, but we just couldn’t convert,” freshman attackman Greg Cohen said. “They had a big defense, and they were frustrating us with [their] hits. That made it tough to complete plays.”

Dartmouth sophomore attackman Jamie Coffin scored his second goal of the game and the final tally of the contest with 11:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Even though the scoring had stopped, the fireworks were by no means over.

Three minutes later, as Harvard broke out of its zone on a fast break, Crimson senior midfielder Rob Fried got tangled up with Big Green junior midfielder Ben Grinnell. A fight broke out and the two players had to be separated.

“It was the last game of the season, and I think we were just frustrated,” Greg Cohen said. “That carried over into the intensity that [we showed] Saturday night.”

Later, Dartmouth junior goaltender Andrew Goldstein led the team on a clear. Just moments after passing the ball, Goldstein was laid out by Harvard junior attackman Mike McBride, who was assessed a one-minute penalty for unnecessary roughness.

McBride had been whistled for the same offense two quarters earlier, when he finished another check which sent Goldstein to the turf.

With 5:01 remaining in the contest, Goldstein once again ventured outside the crease. This time, he was met by Crimson sophomore attackman Steve Cohen, who knocked Goldstein to the ground with a solid check.

“Coming down here [after the Dartmouth contest last year], we knew it would be a physical game,” junior defenseman Brian Wannop said. “We tried to step it up from the beginning, and that’s why the play got sloppy by the fourth quarter.”

Harvard got on the board first in the contest, as sophomore attackman Sean Kane finished a feed from freshman attackman Brian Mahler just 3:18 in.

Dartmouth responded midway through the quarter, as sophomore attackman Alec Hufnagel scored to tie the game at one.

After Kane missed a backhanded flip from close range, the Big Green scooped up the ball and sprinted out on a fast break. Junior attackman Brandon Wright converted on the run, putting Dartmouth ahead for good with just 10 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Big Green senior midfielder Tom Daniels beat Harvard captain and goaltender Jake McKenna to put Dartmouth up 3-1 early in the second period.