In sports, everything can change in the blink of an eye, as the No. 17 Harvard men’s lacrosse team learned Saturday afternoon.

Late in a tie game at Scully-Fahey Field in Hanover, N.H., the Crimson (5-2, 1-1 Ivy) needed to contain Dartmouth (4-3, 1-1) for a just few seconds in order to send the game to overtime.

The Big Green had possession with the chance for the final shot. It fired on net but missed, and the ball soared out of bounds with 4.7 seconds left on the clock, with Dartmouth retaining possession behind the net.

Big Green attackman Nikki Dysenchuk then took the ball behind Harvard sophomore goalie Harry Krieger, driving from the right side. He beat one Harvard defender and fired a low line-drive shot that blew past Krieger as time expired, giving Dartmouth a 9-8 victory.

“He was able to get around a defender and get a shot off,” sophomore Alex White said of the final play. “We were expecting him to feed into the crease; we weren’t expecting a dodge.”

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Crimson, which had just completed a late surge of its own, pouring in two goals in the contest’s final three minutes to tie things up.

“That’s always a tough way to lose,” junior attack Jeff Cohen said. “You fight hard for an entire game; to come up a little bit short [is tough].”

The Big Green scored not only extremely late but also very early, with junior John DeChiaro beating Krieger just seven seconds into the contest. But junior Terry White responded 40 seconds later for Harvard to tie the game at 1-1.

Despite the early blitz, neither team could find the net again until Cohen beat Dartmouth junior goalie Fergus Campbell to give the Crimson the lead with 44 seconds remaining in the opening period.

Cohen’s second score of the game, coming 3:04 into the second quarter, was sandwiched by two Chris Costabile goals for the Big Green that tied the game at 3-3 heading into the half.

Dartmouth pulled ahead early in the third period, when midfielder Rhett Miller beat Krieger at 13:33. But Harvard responded with two quick goals of its own—the first by sophomore midfielder Ryan Stevens and the second by Cohen, giving the junior three on the afternoon. Co-captain Dean Gibbons assisted on Cohen’s score, his third assist of the game and 10th of the season.

“They ran a zone [that] was pretty soft in the middle,” Cohen said. “My teammates found me. Dean had some great passes today. I credit them.”

But Big Green midfielder Adam Boardman tied the game with his first goal of the season at 5:08, and attack Kip Dooley fired one past Krieger two minutes later to put Dartmouth up, 6-5, heading into the final period.

Fifty-three seconds into the fourth, White found Stevens, who beat Campbell to tie the game at six. But Costabile responded at 10:12 with his third of the game, and junior Drew Tunney added another score at 3:47 to give the Big Green a two-goal advantage.

But the Crimson attack would not quit. It turned to Saturday’s two go-to scorers to bring it back into the game, and they delivered.