“It was our second game of the day, so we weren’t completely fresh,” Kennifer said. “It was interesting, because throughout the week, we were a lot more tired than we expected to be, and we were remembering how much the sun takes energy out of you.”

In the final 16 minutes, the Crimson began to step it up, as sophomore Ita Barton-Kettleborough scored twice while Kennifer and freshman Elise Molnar each put one in the net.

“That’s one of those games that if we played them 10 times, we aren’t going to beat them 10 times,” Kennifer said. “They probably aren’t going to beat us 10 times either, but they have a very strong team and a very strong program. We are playing up to them. We did some good things in that game, but not enough to shut them down and win.”

HARVARD 7, FRESNO PACIFIC 4

Harvard started its spring break on the upswing, beating its first opponent of the week, 7-4 on Monday. McCarthy and the defense stayed solid in the first three quarters as the Crimson grabbed a 6-1 lead going into the final eight minutes.

“We also had a really good defensive game against Fresno Pacific,” McCarthy said. “It was good to see the defense clicking there.”

Kennifer grabbed her first hat trick of the week while classmate Shannon Purcell scored twice. Price and junior Patty Smith each tallied one as well.

But the key to the low-scoring game relied heavily on Harvard’s defense.

“We’ve been trying to work on our defense, especially at the beginning of the game, because at the beginning of the season we weren’t starting as well as we could right from the first whistle,” Kennifer said.

—Staff writer Alex Sopko can be reached at sopko@fas.harvard.edu.