The Harvard men’s lacrosse team leveled its conference record on Saturday afternoon with its first Ivy League win coming against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.

Harvard never trailed on its way to a 9-6 victory.

“We were pretty consistent on both sides of the ball,” senior goalkeeper Harry Krieger said. “We buckled down and didn’t let them have a shot to win.”

After a long scoreless stretch to start the game, the Crimson (4-3, 1-1 Ivy) earned a 1-0 lead over the Big Green (2-4, 0-1) towards the end of the first quarter thanks to a goal by junior attackman Carl Zimmerman.

Then, just 19 seconds into the second quarter, junior attackman Peter Schwartz scored for Harvard, extending the lead during a man-up opportunity.

But the Big Green responded quickly with two straight goals, and it looked like the teams would go into halftime tied.

Instead, with only five seconds remaining in the half, junior midfielder Pat Fiorvanti caught a pass from freshman Devin Dwyer and put the ball in the net, vaulting the Crimson back in front.

“It was definitely huge to have that momentum,” senior captain Jason Gonos said. “Going into the second half knowing that we still had control of the game and that we could come out on top was huge.”

Early on in the second half, Harvard was assessed a one-minute penalty for tripping, but refused to give in.

The man-down unit forced a turnover, with Gonos picking up a loose ball, which the Crimson successfully cleared into its offensive end. Instead of simply running out the remainder of the penalty, Harvard attacked, and Schwartz came up with his second goal of the game, this time man-down instead of man-up.

“Schwartz played great,” Gonos said. “It’s awesome having him on the field this year. He’s really been a huge presence.”

Dartmouth would score again, bringing the game to 4-3, but it proved too little to turn the tide as Zimmerman and Gabriel Mendola rallied off two quick goals for the Crimson in rapid succession, just 11 seconds apart.

“Our defense has really needed to step up and stop [their runs],” Gonos said. “In the past we would play good defense for most of the game, but then the other team would go on a run and put us in a hole. [This time], I think we were prepared to stop them mentally on the defensive end.”

The Big Green was knocking on the door again before the end of the third quarter, but Harvard answered with goals by Jack Walker, Murphy Vandervelde, and the team’s leading scorer, Alex White, to secure the Crimson’s first Ivy League win and a .500 record in Ivy League play.

“We’ve been taking a good amount of shots throughout the season,” Krieger said. “Now they’re finally starting to fall into place. This should only increase as the season goes on.”

Krieger notched 13 saves with a save percentage of .680 to increase his season totals to 82 and .586, respectively. Both lead the Ivy League. The goalkeeper has been remarkably strong lately, with a save percentage of .640 over his last four games.

“Harry’s been playing lights out,” Gonos said. “As a defender, that’s huge for my confidence and it just helps the whole defense.”

The Crimson’s faceoff men, Rick Molé and Mendola, helped the team control the flow of the game throughout the contest. Together, they dominated, securing 12 out of 18 faceoffs. Molé was responsible for most of these, going 10-16, while Mendola relieved him on two occasions and won both times.

“It’s great to have strong faceoff guys,” Krieger said. “When you can get the ball back after a team scores you can reclaim any momentum.”

Going forward, Harvard takes a break from Ivy League play for a week, facing Albany and No. 13 Duke at home on March 26th and 30th, respectively.

The Crimson’s next conference game is against national powerhouse Cornell on April 6. The Big Red ranks second in the country and leads the nation in goals per game.

“Cornell is notoriously strong,” Krieger said. “The Albany and Duke games are great before going into the [bulk] of the Ivy League schedule. It will help us keep our composure and pull through as a cohesive unit.”