“When we played Mercyhurst, we came out with guns blazing,” Zepfel said. “We came out firing. We were…all pretty fired up.”

BUCKNELL 11, HARVARD 3

In Saturday’s first matchup, Harvard found itself facing an early deficit.

The Bison (4-5), who also participated—but did not face the Crimson—in the Princeton Invitational last weekend, rallied in the first two periods, building up a comfortable margin.

“We had a tough first half against Bucknell,” Minnis said. “We were down 5-0 at the half, and we just really couldn’t recover from that.”

The Bison defense ensured any Harvard comeback would have to wait until later in the match, as Bucknell goalie Matt Napleton kept the Crimson scoreless for more than 16 minutes to open the game.

Harvard was finally able to put the ball in the back of the net in the third quarter, but the Bison responded with six more goals in the second half, putting the game well out of the Crimson’s reach.

Despite the early loss to Bucknell, the wins against Mercyhurst and George Washington bode well for Harvard going into conference play, which begins this upcoming weekend.

“The big thing is that we got the home opener out of the way,” Minnis said. “We’ve been on the road. We’ve lost some games. We’ve won some games. We’ve played in some blowout games. And we’ve been blown out in some blowout games. I think those are all real positives to have going into conference play.”

The Crimson will travel across Cambridge to face local rival MIT in its conference opener on Sept. 21.

—Staff writer Madeleine Smith can be reached at smith21@college.harvard.edu.