“We had done our research and had an idea of what [Akpan] likes to do,” Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski said. “[MacMath] just stood him up and made a good reaction for the save.”

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be for me to break the record,” Akpan said.

The miss left Harvard with a mountain to climb in the second half. The Terrapins—now 12-0 this year in games in which they have scored first—had the wind at their backs as they tried to kill off the match.

The wind’s impact became clear when Maryland took the upper hand at the start of the second half. The Crimson was giving the ball away cheaply, but the Terrapins seemed wary of pushing too many men forward.

The first real chance of the second half came in the 69th minute, when Harms kept Harvard in the game, saving a close-range shot from Herrick.

All of a sudden the match kicked into life.

With 17 minutes left, junior Alex Chi’s work rate put Maryland under pressure, but MacMath beat the midfielder to the ball to maintain his shutout.

A minute later, Rousmaniere headed off the line to stop the Terrapins from doubling their lead.

Following the scare, the Crimson regained momentum and began to control possession.

Unfortunately for Harvard, another Maryland counterattack proved costly. With freshman defender Richard Smith up-field for a set piece, the Crimson was left shorthanded at the back in the 78th minute. The Terrapins moved the ball to the left, and, from about 30 yards out, midfielder Billy Cortes shifted the ball onto his right foot, before placing it into the bottom right corner of the net.

The sun may have been nice for the fans in attendance—nearly 2000 people showed up to watch the game—but its glare certainly didn’t help Harms.

The goal assured Maryland a spot in the Elite Eight and marked the end of the road for Harvard’s five seniors. Akpan, his co-captain Brian Grimm, Mitchell, First-Team All-Ivy defender Kwaku Nyamekye, and Rousmaniere combined to form almost half of the Crimson’s starting lineup, and together they represent perhaps the greatest class in the history of Harvard soccer. They finish their careers with two Ivy League titles and never missed an NCAA Tournament.

“We’ve taken the team to places that we haven’t been in a long, long time,” Nyamekye said.

“The hardest thing, with as talented a senior class as we had, is to have it end,” Clark said. “Only one team ends up happy, and it looks like it will be someone else this year.”

—Staff writer Jay M. Cohen can be reached at jaycohen@fas.harvard.edu.