Sophomore Allison Kaveney chipped in two goals but the Crimson was not able to mount a comeback against Cornell.

As with just about any tough loss, what made the women’s lacrosse team’s 10-9 defeat yesterday at the hands of Cornell so heartbreaking was the fact that the game was winnable the whole way through.

With less than a minute left in the Crimson’s (6-9, 1-6 Ivy) last game of the season, Big Red (5-9, 3-4 Ivy) goaltender Maggie Fava stopped a shot on goal by Harvard senior attackman Jen Brooks that would have tied the score at 10.

The save finally sealed the Crimson’s fate after a long game in which it simply would not give up.

Down 4-1 with less than two minutes left in the first half, Harvard went on a run that evened up the score at 4-4 only 28 seconds into the second half.

Sparking that run was freshman attack Liz Gamble, who turned in a free position goal with 1:43 left in the first half.

Her tally was followed moments later by a goal from junior attack Catherine Sproul with 1:17 left in the half off an assist from freshman midfielder Caroline Hines, her first of five assists yesterday.

During the opening 20 minutes the Crimson relied heavily on another solid performance by freshman goaltender Kathryn Tylander, who had four of her five saves in the first half.

“She came up big in the first 20 minutes of the first half,” Gamble said. “She always has tremendous games and always saves us.”

With the second half underway, Hines was soon again on the offensive, feeding sophomore Elaine Belitsos for her game-tying goal just 28 seconds into the half.

The Crimson seemed briefly to be back in control of the game early in the second half, only to watch Cornell quickly double its score in less than eight minutes, setting the score at 8-4.

The Big Red’s run benefited heavily from the input of midfielder Lyndsay Robinson, who contributed two assists and a goal to help Cornell reestablish its lead.

The teams traded two goals apiece before the Crimson took control of the momentum with 9:57 left in the second half off sophomore midfielder Allison Kaveney’s second goal of the game.

At the 8:35 mark, Gamble scored her second goal of the game off an assist by Hines—her fifth of the game.

Gamble, who has seen little action this season due to a persistent leg injury, said that Hines had made a great effort to get her the ball in scoring position.

“She knew how much this meant to me to try and get me back on my feet,” Gamble said.