“I thought we started out really crisp on offense; [we were] really shooting the ball well,” Wojcik said.

A defensive chess match characterized the rest of the second quarter and most of the third, as 23 minutes and 18 seconds passed without a goal on either side.

Two Penn shots rang off the Harvard pipes in the second, but the Crimson managed to hold the Quakers scoreless. Harvard junior Jack Walker broke the scoring drought with 14 seconds left in the quarter off a feed from White.

Penn controlled the final frame of regulation, outshooting the Crimson, 17-2. After Penn scored three goals in less than six minutes to tie the game at six with just over four minutes remaining in regulation, the Crimson responded as Dwyer found Ian Ardrey in front of the goal for a 7-6 edge with just over two minutes left.

Harvard appeared to have the game locked up with a minute to play after defender Robert Duvnjak forced a Penn turnover. But Quaker freshman Matt Leonhard prevented the Crimson from completing the clear, knocking the ball out of the stick of junior midfielder Brian O’Toole to give Penn possesion. Seconds later, Blonsky evened the score at seven.

“In the fourth quarter, we were very sloppy,” Wojcik said. “For us though, to win and get over the hump—to finish a close game out—is a big step forward for this team.”

The Crimson now controls its destiny as it heads into its final two games of the regular season versus No. 10/9 Princeton and No. 17/15 Yale. Two wins would guarantee Harvard a top-four conference finish and an Ivy League tournament berth.

“That was like a playoff game for us,” Vandervelde said. “We’ve got two more games, and it’s win out or die. The playoffs have started, and we still have life.”

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