The Harvard women’s lacrosse team opened its offensive flood gates in the second half of Saturday’s game at No. 4 Princeton (10-2, 5-0 Ivy), but the wave of scoring came too late to wash away the Tigers’ first half gains as the Crimson (2-9, 0-3) fell 21-12.

The second-half performance mitigated the sting of yet another loss, Harvard’s ninth straight, to a high-powered opponent.

“I think that’s definitely a bright spot, considering in the first half we only scored two goals, to come out so strong,” senior midfielder Casey Owens said. “It shows you something about the spirit of Harvard lacrosse. We’re not going to accept defeat without a fight.”

Sophomore attack Liz Gamble and freshman attack Caroline Simmons notched second-half hat tricks to the lead the Crimson’s scoring unit.

Co-captain attack Catherine Sproul scored two, including a shot on an assist from Gamble at 28:07 that commenced a three-goal run to jump-start the offense-heavy half.

The Crimson shot 10-for-12 against three Princeton goalkeepers in the half. The Tiger trio blocked only two shots in the half and four in the game as a whole.

After the half-opening three-goal run, Harvard went on another four-goal streak as Gamble scored twice and Sproul and Simmons added tallies of their own.

“I think that we scored six goals in 14 minutes. That’s really big for any team,” Owens said.

The Crimson scored 10 goals in the second half, but unfortunately for Harvard, the Tigers also scored nine. Princeton freshman midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica completed a hat trick by adding two second-half goals.

Lewis-Lamonica shot 3-for-3 and recovered four ground balls, and 10 Tigers ultimately scored, with two more tallying assists.

At halftime, the Crimson had its work cut out, as it found itself down by the mercy-rule margin of 12-2 thanks to a breakdown late in the half.

Harvard was in charge during the early minutes of the contest following an unassisted goal by freshman attack Tara Schoen. The favorable margin didn’t hold, as Princeton tied the game at 25:33 and went on to outscore the Crimson 11-1 in the remaining minutes of the half.

“In the first seven to 10 minutes of the game we were right there. We just need to be able to put a full game together,” Owens said.

Attack Lindsey Biles personally accounted for five of the Tigers’ goals in the period. She finished the game with a remarkable six, as well as three assists.

Princeton’s offense outpouring built on control of the team’s control of the field—especially from the fast break.

“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.