Cornell answered with a goal from Max Van Bourgondien with four minutes to play in the quarter, and Lang pushed the deficit to five with a goal less than a minute later. Stevens completed his hat trick with just over a minute remaining in the frame, and Harvard went into the fourth quarter down four goals.

Cohen struck first for the Crimson less than a minute into the final frame to pull Harvard within three, but that deficit proved to be an unbreakable barrier.

Two straight goals from Mike O’Neil and Chris Langton put Cornell up 11-6 with slightly under nine minutes to play. Sophomore attackman Daniel Eipp responded with a goal of his own before Vaughan scored to again cut the Big Red lead to three. But Cornell outscored the Crimson in the final minutes to deny the comeback attempt.

According to Wojcik, The Crimson can take some consolation in its second-half performance, in which it outscored Cornell, 9-8, and outshot the Big Red, 24-17.

“It is encouraging to have played them close in the second half,” said Cohen, whose 39 goals through 10 games this season vault him ahead of Dave Bohn ’61, who held the Harvard record for career goals for over 50 years.

The loss is the first in the league for the Crimson, which falls to third place behind undefeated Princeton and Cornell. A potential rematch with the Big Red will have to wait until the Ivy League Tournament in May.

“We know we can play with those guys,” Cohen said. “We hope we get a chance to see them again.”

—Staff writer James M. Acer can be reached at jacer@college.harvard.edu.