“If you had ten more minutes, you don’t know which way the game would have gone,” Noon said. “We needed a few more minutes at the end of the game.”

Ultimately, the gap was too wide for Harvard to bridge before time expired, as a strong first half insulated the Big Red against anything the Crimson could put together against it in the second.

Freshman Courtney Farrell seized the lead for Cornell after five minutes of game play with an unassisted opening goal.

Farrell struck twice more in the half, leading a Big Red offensive unit that controlled the half.

Sophomore Margeaux Viola added two unassisted goals of her own, and freshmen attack Margaret Schmidlapp and midfielder Amanda Linnerz each found the back of the net once. Cornell out-shot Harvard 16-9 in the first half of play.

The Crimson scored only once in the first 30 minutes of game time, when an unassisted goal by Belitsos with 22:16 left narrowed Cornell’s margin to 2-1.

Harvard turned possession over less frequently than the Big Red and posted a substantial advantage on draw controls (10-6).

With the loss to Cornell, time is running out for the Crimson’s hopes of ending the season on a bright note.

After tallying a baker’s dozen of consecutive losses, Harvard has its final and perhaps best shot at seasonal redemption Wednesday when the squad travels to Providence, R.I., to take on Brown (3-10, 1-5).

“It’s always been a really close game between us. With the composure we showed on attack and defense, if we can convert the skills we showed against Cornell into the game at Brown, we can definitely come out on top,” Noon said.

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