“What’s good about Princeton is they have a very strong passing game...They were able to score very, very quickly,” Sproul said. “They played a very pretty passing game.”

The Tigers won on draw controls (22-12) and ground balls (25-22)—but not on turnovers, of which Harvard committed 22 to Princeton’s 15.

“I think we have to take responsibility for some of the turnovers,” Owens said. “I think that we weren’t playing to our potential. The turnover stats might not be correlated to [Princeton’s] pressure.”

Freshman midfielder Natalie Curtis brought the Crimson within two, 4-2, with 16:09 left in the first, but the Tigers scored eight unanswered goals before the half to eliminate any chance Harvard had at pulling itself back into the game.

While the second half was an inspiring way to end a losing game, the Crimson is going to need all the momentum it can accumulate as it faces off against No. 7 Dartmouth in Hanover Wednesday.

“It was key just to get our confidence back to know we can put it together and be in a game against a team like Princeton,” Sproul said. “Princeton is, on paper, a better team than Dartmouth. If we know we can hang with people like Princeton but beat them in the second half, that’s a great sign of what’s going to happen. I’m hoping that what happens is what clicked on Saturday will carry over to the game against Dartmouth.”

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