Earlier in the afternoon, Harvard found itself playing catch-up against Brown.
“It was a rough day,” Tafur said. “Two games pretty close together, so it was a test of our physical conditioning…. [Brown is] one of our biggest rivals. It’s always a grind-it-out game with them.”
The Crimson had stayed competitive throughout early play, coming back from a two-goal hole to even the score at 2-2. But Brown responded with a push of its own: three goals in four minutes to take a 5-2 advantage into halftime.
After the break, Harvard went on a 4-2 run, and a score from junior utility player Colin Chiapello brought the Crimson within one goal midway through the fourth quarter. However, the hosts never managed to take the lead, and the Bears surged ahead with a pair of late scores.
Minutes later, when the final whistle sounded, Brown climbed out of the pool as 9-7 victors.
Harvard had just hours to prepare for its next game against MIT, who had also lost to Brown earlier in the day.
“We came out on the short end of that [against Brown], which is fine,” Tafur said. “It’s a learning experience. [We] came back, pretty fired up tonight. We had a pretty good crowd, which is pleasing.”