If the Crimson was frustrated with the play, it didn’t show it, bouncing right back. Nichols rallied her teammates and got off her second shot of the day at 86:00. Shortly after, junior co-captain Gina Wideroff took a shot, which Pont deflected out of bounds, giving Kowal a corner kick. Freshman Caroline Albanese tried to capitalize out of a one-on-one with a Princeton defender but was unsuccessful.

“I was really proud of them,” Leone said. “How they did in the last four minutes was amazing [because] you could fold up thinking there’s not enough time, but there’s always time. If there’s a second, there’s time.”

And in the last second, Albanese nearly changed everything. But Pont was barely able to get a hand on her shot at 89:59 and the ball went over the right corner of the goal, giving Princeton its first road shutout of Harvard since 1985.

“I thought [Albanese’s shot] was going to go in,” Leone said. “And it was a good save, it was close. I’m just more proud of how we were even able to take that shot. You can’t control everything. The only thing you can control is giving it all you’ve got, and they did, and that’s what I was appreciative of.”

After the loss, Harvard—which had gained sole control of the Ivy League in its Tuesday win against Yale—will need to win its final regular season games against Dartmouth and Columbia to stay in the title hunt. The Crimson was in the same situation last year after losing its Ivy opener to Penn.

“The way we responded last year was unbelievable,” Baskind said. “We know it’s in us.”

“We need this challenge,” Nichols added. “I feel sorry for Dartmouth next week [because] we’re going to come out on fire.”