In Saturday afternoon’s 13-12 loss to Cornell, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team was unable to swing the momentum in its direction for long enough to hold onto the win.

The Big Red scored the first four goals in the encounter. The visitors maintained possession of the ball for most of the first half, shutting the Crimson out in the first quarter completely.

Most of the scoring came in bunches. After Cornell went up 4-0, junior co-captain Kevin Vaughan put his team on the scoreboard.

The Crimson won the next faceoff, and sophomore midfielder Ryan Stevens quickly followed suit, netting his first goal of the game less than two minutes after.

Cornell regained composure with a goal from Rob Pannell, a 2010 First Team All-American and the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year.

But a second goal from Vaughan began Harvard’s second string of scores, which included a second goal from Stevens. After scoring, each team was able to build momentum by winning the following faceoff.

The Crimson dominated the third quarter, scoring six of the eight goals of the frame. In one run, the hosts notched four in a row, thanks to one tally from Vaughan, two from Stevens, and one from sophomore Jack Doyle.

After the run, Harvard was up for the first time in the game, 9-7 with just over four minutes left.

But the Big Red regrouped and answered with three goals. Two back-to-back tallies from Steve Mock in the fourth quarter brought his team back in the lead.

“We couldn’t score goals and then make stops,” said Vaughan about the changing momentum.

Then Harvard scored two, then Cornell scored two. After that, Matt Hull scored to bring the Crimson back into the lead, 10-9.

“The fourth quarter went back and forth,” said Harvard coach Chris Wojcik ’96. “They responded, and then we responded.”

Harvard couldn’t hold on. The Big Red’s David Lau scored the tying and the game-winning goal to put the contest away.

“It takes stringing together two big plays,” Vaughan said. “A big hit and a big goal and all of the sudden, you’ve got your momentum back, and kids are fired up on the sideline.”

SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS