“We were just flat-out turning the ball over way too much in midfield,” Sproul said. “I would say because they’re such a fast team, maybe we were getting tired and that was causing turnovers. It’s hard to hold on to passes when you’re tired.”

Harvard turned the ball over 26 times in the game.

“They were two, three steps ahead of us,” co-captain Catherine Sproul said. “I think that that created many more possessions for them and many more chances to go to the goal.”

The game was not without a few glimmers of hope for Harvard. The Crimson scored three consecutive goals around halftime, as with 7:29 left in the first, Curtis found Schoen open in the middle, and Schoen slung the ball to the high corner of the net.

Sophomore attack Liz Gamble scored two in as many minutes almost as soon as the second half began. Gamble notched the first from free position and found the second after swinging around from behind the goal, picking up a defender, spinning by her and shooting across her body.

Harvard faces a trying week on the road, with matches scheduled against No. 4 Princeton on Saturday and No. 7 Dartmouth on Wednesday.

­—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.