Senior Abby Harpstead and captain Audrey Ziomeck attempt to contain a B.U. forward. The Crimson could not harness the Terriers, who outpowered Harvard en route to a 4-1 victory last night.

It took until the second half for a brisk fall breeze to pick up, but the Harvard Field Hockey team was clearly blown over much earlier than that.

The Crimson (2-14, 2-3 Ivy) lost to Boston University 4-1 yesterday, in a match in which they were outrun, overpowered, and outgunned.

“BU is a very strong team this year, and their win was very impressive” Harvard coach Sue Caples said. “But this game showed that there’s a lot we can learn, and we will.”

From the opening minutes, the Terriers (11-6) dominated the match like an old fashioned teacher dominates a classroom, keeping the Crimson almost constantly on the defensive. BU outshot Harvard 13-1, and hardly a crimson shirt crossed into the Terriers’ half of the field.

Whenever the Crimson had an opening to respond, its play was halting and shaky.

Initially, Harvard’s fans attributed the lackluster play to a lack of motivation, yelling “You gotta want it!” But as the game progressed, it became clear that it was not a lack of motivation but an uneven match-up.

“When you have an opponent at this level, it can make simple hard,” Caples said. “The speed of the game will make us stronger.”

Indeed, while the pace of the game was brisk as the breeze that overturned the BU goal late in the second half, the Crimson moved through the game at times in high gear, but at other times in a slightly disjointed crawl.

Harvard’s shining moment came as it matched and briefly exceeded the Terriers’ pace, with a goal in the 60th minute. Senior back Audrey Ziomek streaked down the field capitalizing on a rare, but clearly much relished offensive opportunity.

“[Ziomek] flipped a reverse slice pass to [freshman middle] Annie Calvert,” Caples said. “It was a beautiful example of finishing plays.”

Calvert’s goal was the first in her collegiate career. Though Calvert felt scoring her first goal was “exciting,” she gave much of the credit to Ziomek.

“Audrey worked hard and had a nice cross, I was just there to tip it in.”

Unfortunately for the Crimson, its lone goal came too late to raise any hope of a comeback.

BU set a dominant tone early and never looked back.

The Terriers’ first goal came seven minutes into the match and, by half, they lead 2-0. BU scored another two goals before ten minutes had elapsed in the second half. Junior midfielder Pam Speuhler scored two goals and junior forward Hayley Hamada added two assists for the Terriers, who proved themselves worthy of their ranking in or near the top 20 in a number of polls.

Harvard will have to quickly apply the lessons learned from yesterday’s match to overcome the one-game differential between fourth and second place in the Ivy League.

“The next match against Dartmouth will be a battle,” said Caples, who, despite the team’s lackluster performance thus far this year, is confident.

“Given where we started this year and where we are now, this team has grown tremendously.”

Caples emphasized repeatedly that her team’s strength comes from its fortitude.

“I’m proud we kept fighting, we learned that you create your own luck and your own breaks.”