Senior goalkeeper Austin Harms came up with crucial saves against UMass on Friday night, playing a big part in the Crimson’s defensive efforts. Junior co-captain Scott Prozeller had the only game of the weekend against the Minutemen, putting away a penalty kick in overtime.

The latest road game for the Harvard men’s soccer team turned out to be a disappointing finish to a rather lackluster weekend.

On Friday night at Soliders Field Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium, the Crimson (2-3) barely edged out UMass (1-6) in overtime, 1-0, before falling to Vermont (5-1) by the same score in Sunday afternoon’s away matchup.

Despite the plethora of offensive opportunities and well-constructed build-up plays in both games this weekend, Harvard lacked that final spark of ingenuity in front of the goal.

“Goals are hard to come by for us right now,” Crimson coach Carl Junot said. “It’s that final piece of quality that we are looking for.”

But in the eyes of junior forward Brian Rogers, the final piece in the Crimson offense may not be all that difficult to find.

“Like anything in sports, sometimes a bit of luck and a bit of momentum is needed to put you over the edge,” Rogers said. “I think that one of these next few games, we are going to have a real offensive explosion, in which a bunch of those shots do go in. From there you’ll see our confidence go up, and then we’ll hopefully be shooting at a better percentage.”

VERMONT 1, HARVARD 0

Playing in Burlington, Vt., on Sunday afternoon, the Harvard men’s soccer team was aggressive in its offensive third of the field. But as has been the case so far this season, the Crimson’s failure to capitalize on its scoring opportunities led to a second straight away defeat.

The Catamounts attained the lone score of the match late in the second half, thanks to a long throw-in by junior defender Sean Sweeney that found the head of senior Yannick Lewis.

With a little more than five minutes to play in the match, Lewis’ header made the difference in the otherwise evenly-contested game.

“That was a pretty frustrating game in that we lost,” Rogers said. “Vermont is a tough place to play. The field is sloppy, and it’s a pretty rowdy environment, but it could have gone either way.”

Despite a losing effort, the Crimson kept up with Vermont statistically for much of the game, but ran out of steam late in the second half. For the game, the Catamounts edged Harvard in shots, 10-8, and in corner kicks, 6-4.

“Overall it was a pretty evenly-matched game, and I think that they earned the win well with the throw-in,” Junot said.

HARVARD 1, UMASS 0

Although UMass made the home-side work hard for the victory, in the end, the Crimson escaped with a win after a game-winning penalty kick in overtime by junior co-captain Scott Prozeller, 1-0.