“[The goal] put them up, 3-0, and that was tough,” Caples said. “It spiraled a little bit on us, and we played back on our heels instead of attacking. We made some skill error and just lost our momentum. At that point, we need to stay disciplined in our fundamentals and execute the game plan to dig ourselves [out, but] we weren’t able to get anything going.”
Princeton stretched the lead to four, as senior Rachel Neufeld scored off a rebound that effectively put the game out of reach.
Crimson freshman Noel Painter scored two minutes later, setting the score at 4-1, but the goal was not enough to spark a comeback.
Despite the loss that dropped it to fourth place, Harvard will look to rebound and finish out the season strong.
“Princeton is a strong team but, you know, we are close, and there is still a lot of work to be done for us,” Caples said. “I look forward to see how we respond tomorrow [against Colgate].”
—Staff writer Cameron Dowd can be reached at camerondowd14@college.harvard.edu.