The second half slowly ticked away with the game tied. After combining for 26 goals in the first 48 minutes, the Harvard and Holy Cross women’s lacrosse teams suddenly themselves found unable to score. After 13 minutes of scoreless anguish, sophomore Kaitlin Martin beat three defenders to power in the winning goal for the Crimson with only seven seconds left.

Her goal gave Harvard (1-0) a 14-13 season-opening win over the Crusaders (1-2) Thursday afternoon at Holy Cross’s Hart Astro Turf.

The Crusaders began stalling with three minutes remaining, holding the ball to take the game’s last shot, the same tactic with which they scored to earn their sole win of the season on Feb. 27 against Massachusetts.

“Holy Cross is notorious for playing until the end of the buzzer,” senior co-captain Perry Barlow said. “All three of their games now have been decided by one goal in the last minute of the game.”

With a single minute remaining, sophomore midfielder Sarah Bancroft nullified the threat, forcing a turnover on defense to give the Crimson a final opportunity to win the game in regulation.

Bancroft passed the ball to junior attack Caroline Simmons—who had already scored four goals in the game for Harvard.

The Crusaders immediately pressured Simmons, forcing her to give up the ball to Martin. The heavily defended Martin shot past three defenders—falling to the ground as she did so—to score the game winner and complete a hat trick.

“As much as we felt prepared, nothing can replace the feeling of actually coming away with the win,” Barlow said.

The victory had been by no means certain.

Two weeks earlier, Harvard had scrimmaged Holy Cross. While there was no official score, Barlow was certain the Crusaders had outscored the Crimson.

Thursday’s game began inauspiciously for Harvard, as Holy Cross raced to an early 7-3 lead.

Despite the score, the Crimson refused to panic.

“We knew they were a team that goes on runs on offense, but they can give up a lot of goals on defense too,” said Barlow. “We knew we had more than a chance to come back.”

It was Harvard’s turn in final three minutes of the second half. Martin, Simmons, freshman Sara Flood, junior Ali Hines, and Barlow each scored to give Harvard an 8-7 lead at the break.

The Crusaders offense put on another spurt as play resumed. Attacks Megan Fenton, Patricia Sutton, and Kristine Corkum each scored to put the Crimson down 10-7.

Through much of the second half, neither team could gain an advantage. Simmons scored her third for Harvard, but Sutton. who led the Crusaders with four goals in the contest, quickly retaliated.

Hines and Simmons each notched one more to tie the game up, but Nikki Bolduc scored to give the Crusaders a 13-12 lead.

“We felt we had to win this, we had to come back,” Simmons said.

“We told ourselves we had to get some goals and the defense really stepped it up at the end of the game.”

Freshman attack Alexandra Comstock rose to the challenge, tying the game at 13-13, and paving the way for Martin’s game-winner.

Simmons refused to take credit for the victory, despite leading the Crimson with four goals and one assist.

“It was a team effort,” she said. “The defense did a great job causing turnovers and getting the ball back.”

However, Simmons still saw room for improvement.

“I think this game really showed that we have a lot to work on,” she said.

“Although it was a great game, we were a little sloppy coming out to start. We need to work on our midfield transitions and our movement on attack. A lot of our goals today were one-on-ones.”

While the team still may have room for improvement, Thursday’s victory bodes well for the upcoming season. Holy Cross beat UMass last week, who defeated No. 17 BU.

Harvard returns to action against UMass at 1 p.m. Saturday on Jordan Field.

—Staff writer Tyler D. Sipprelle can be reached at sipprell@fas.harvard.edu.