“We only have one last opportunity to play at home, so I think we’re playing with a lot more energy because this was one of the last opportunities we’d be able to play here in Blodgett,” Minnis said. “I don’t think that we can determine anything from what happened in the Villanova game because of the way we were jacked up to play, and we really came out and jumped on them early.”

The Crimson will have to beat the Wildcats at Villanova on Feb. 24. Harvard’s only remaining home game is an April 3 contest against Brown.

HARVARD 15, IONA 13

Harvard led from start to finish in a tight home opener to defeat the Gaels, 15-13. Junior Shayna Price recorded a day-high six goals while Andersen and Hendrix earned their first career hat tricks.

“[Iona and Harvard] always go back-and-forth, so we’ve always had a good rivalry,” Aisha Price said. “We just wanted to buckle down and play good defense.”

The Crimson started sharp, taking a 3-0 lead just over two minutes into the game. But Iona quickly battled back on the next possession with a 6-on-5 strike. The Gaels converted on a 5-meter penalty shot less than 30 seconds later to draw within one.

“They were definitely really strong,” Andersen said. “At first, that kind of threw me off, but then everybody focused on their fundamentals and everything that we’ve been talking about in practice, and you could really see it in that game.”

Iona would remain on Harvard’s heels for the remainder of the match. Shayna Price scored all three of the Crimson’s goals in the second quarter, and Hendrix provided the Crimson’s final two tallies of the game to stave off a Gael comeback.

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at mledecky@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @mdledecky