In the first of two three-minute overtime halves, the teams’ defenses were the stars, preventing any goals.

It looked like the second overtime period might be scoreless as well until there were less than 40 seconds on the clock. After a drive by the Gael offense, the Crimson’s Popp got possession and, instead of looking for the long pass, took a cross-pool shot that sailed over Iona’s retreating goalkeeper.

The ball hit the water just in front of the goal before bouncing in, putting Harvard up by one.

But with 18 seconds left, the Gaels came back and once again made it a tie game.

Now in the first period of sudden-death overtime, it looked like the Crimson finally had the chance to put away the win. After an Iona foul, Harvard was awarded a penalty shot, but before Voith could take it, the Gaels’ coach was ejected for his loud protestations.

“[The officials] let other things take over, and I think the whole situation killed a bit of our momentum,” Minnis said.

Voith regrouped for the shot, but it wasn’t enough, and Iona’s goalkeeper got in front the ball to keep the Gaels in the game.

Popp similarly came up big for the Crimson, stopping a last-second shot from afar.

“There was a stretch where [Popp] went almost 13 straight minutes without allowing a goal,” Voith said. “Any goalie who can put the team in a position to do that is going above and beyond his role.”

But in the fourth and final overtime, the game was finally decided. After Harvard was unable to capitalize on an early opportunity with a man up, Iona’s offense took it to the other end of the pool and, with 1:03 left on the clock, scored the night’s final goal.

After eight periods of play, the scoreboard read Iona 11, Harvard 10.

FORDHAM 13, HARVARD 5

In the Crimson’s conference opener, Fordham’s offense started strong and wouldn’t slow down.

“Anytime we allow more than 10 goals, we’re not giving ourselves the best opportunity to win,” Minnis said.

The Rams started the scoring early in the first period with a 3-0 run, and Harvard didn’t get on the board until Voith made a penalty shot in the second. Voith and Babic led the team in scores and assists for the game.

With about a minute left before halftime, Fordham was up by four, but after a controversial call against Harvard, the Rams took a shot at the buzzer that just made it past Popp to make the score 7-2.

The second half didn’t look much better for the Crimson, and despite seven saves by freshman goalkeeper Jimmy Field, the Rams continued to stretch the lead, finishing with the 13-5 victory.

The pair of games certainly didn’t have the outcomes Harvard was looking for, but Minnis put it in perspective.

“These are the things that are going to make us stronger and make us better,” he said. “We have to learn to lose the tough ones before we can win them.”

—Staff writer Madeleine Smith can be reached at smith21@college.harvard.edu.