The Black and White was overwhelmed by Dartmouth this weekend in the race between the two school’s heavyweight varsity eights. Radcliffe started strong, but the Big Green took the momentum and pulled away in the last 500 meters of the race.

Coming from behind to win a race can be tough. But sometimes, holding onto a slim lead can be even more difficult.

After last weekend’s race, Radcliffe understands this fact all too well.

In Hanover on Saturday, the Black and White’s first varsity eight failed to hold its lead and, in return, failed to gain a victory over Ivy-rival Dartmouth at the O’Leary Cup.

Holding a slight edge the entire race, Radcliffe’s heavyweight varsity eight looked poised to avenge last weekend’s loss to Princeton and get back in the winning direction. After a strong start, it was over the last 500 meters of the 2000-meter sprint that everything changed. The Big Green surged forward, taking the momentum away from the first-place Black and White.

Dartmouth eventually overtook Radcliffe in this final stretch, edging the team for first place with a time of 6:26.8.

The Black and White finished at 6:27.4, missing out on a win by less than a second.

“It was a tough race because we were up a few seats most of the way,” heavyweight captain Nicole Gavel said. “It was just disappointing that they beat us at the finish because the race could have gone either way.”

One bright spot in the otherwise difficult day came as the second varsity eight gained a 15-second victory over the Big Green.

For the first varsity eight, however, the team realizes what it needs to work on for next week.

“[Over the last 500 meters], we didn’t get tired but they saw we were losing momentum and we didn’t respond,” senior Laura Martin said. “We’ve been working on our fourth five hundred for a while, and it’s something we are going to have to work on more.”

Although back-to-back defeats are disheartening, all that matters for Radcliffe is going to Eastern Sprints—and winning it.

“There are things we could have done better,” Gavel said. “But we’ll see them at Eastern Sprints and it will be a different story.”

That said, momentum going into this race will be key, just as it was at the end of the race on Saturday.

Next week will provide a prime opportunity for the Black and White to swing momentum back in its favor, and motivation for the race will not be lacking. Radcliffe will travel to Yale looking to end its slide by defeating its greatest Ivy rival.

The Black and White will need to improve fast to make this happen, as the Bulldogs defeated the Big Green by four seconds two weeks ago in the first varsity eight.

Radcliffe seems poised to do just this.

“We’d love to beat Yale, for so many different reasons,” said Gavel. “We’ll definitely bring it against them to put us back in the right direction.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.