The Crimson’s victory over Connecticut College marked a break in its five-game void of wins.
The Crimson took the lead early, exiting the second quarter with a 5-2 lead over the Camels. By halftime, the score had increased to 9-4, Harvard.
The Crimson continued to excel in the second half and triumphed 16-7 over Connecticut College.
Ramsey stepped up in a big way in Harvard’s win, doubling his career number of goals to 12 this weekend, five of which were scored in the match against Connecticut.
“I think what happened in the [Connecticut] game is he just started picking up the ball more and shooting it,” Popp said. “I mean the guy’s got a cannon. In practice, I’d say he is one of the toughest guys to block. He just decided with Connecticut College to pick it up and put it in the high corner … That is his bread and butter.”
But Ramsey was not the only one putting up big numbers. Defensively, Popp had 10 saves, and sophomore attacker Hank Clausner logged four steals. Offensively, DiSilvestro had three goals, and Babic and freshman two-meter John Holland-McCowan had two apiece.
“[The Conneticut College victory] was our first win in a while, and I thought we played well on all ends of the pool,” Minnis said. “We put the ball away when we needed to put the ball away, so it was a good day. I think everybody had fun and that is what we are trying to get to.”
ST. FRANCIS 13, HARVARD 5
The Crimson faced No. 15 St. Francis in its first game of the weekend.
Harvard kept pace with the powerhouse in the first quarter.
“We started off real strong,” Ramsey said. “This was a team that was supposed to blow us out, and we were pushing to the limits and always giving a 110 percent.”
Going into the second half, the Crimson trailed by a single point, 3-2.
But the Bernie’s size and strength proved too great, and St. Francis blew Harvard out of the water, 13-5.
“They started optimizing on our mistakes and started making shots and counterattacking—they started benefitting off of our losses,” Ramsey said. “And we just kind of let it get out of control.”
“They just got a couple power goals, and they just started rolling,” Popp added.
Though St. Francis earned the winning tally, Harvard didn’t walk away completely defeated.
“The score doesn’t reflect how well we played,” Minnis said. “Considering they are the No. 15 team in the nation and some of our guys were out, it was a good effort.”