“We just kept shooting and hammering away,” Farrar said. “We stuck to our game plan, and that was effective.”

The Bears countered soon after, though, with a strong game plan of their own—the team sank two goals in less than a minute. The fourth period ended with the scored knotted at six, and the game extended into overtime.

In the first eight minutes of extra time, both Harvard and Brown played with few mistakes. As the minutes ticked away and the scoreboard remained the same, the fans became increasingly nervous.

But as Farrar noted, the home-pool advantage definitely made its mark after the Crimson spent over two months on the road.

“The roar of the crowd does huge things,” Farrar said.

Yet to give the fans all of the credit for Harvard’s success in the pool would discredit the teamwork that ultimately gave Harvard the edge in the end.

In the second overtime, with 1:05 left on the clock, sophomore attack Monica Zdrojewski put one between the pipes to lift the Crimson to a 7-6 lead and, ultimately, a long-awaited victory.

“Last week when we prepped, we were so excited for this game,” Molnar noted. “We were so ready to play. The frustration of not being able to play them last week [because a referee did not show up] just channeled through to something really positive.”

The team will now look to channel this victory into additional wins this weekend when it takes on conference opponent Hartwick, followed by a rematch with the Bears.