The trailing Crimson opened the second half with a flurry of strong defensive efforts. Behind Harvard’s relentless pressure, the Crimson forced a season-high 23 turnovers. Harvard hadn’t caused that many turnovers since April 4, 2014, when the team forced Boston University to cough up the ball 26 times.

“Our coaching staff challenged our guys to be aggressive and get out on guys’ hands—not to let them shoot with their feet set,” Wojcik said. “They played a really tough, physical half.”

In that second period, Vermont’s outside offense disappeared. Harvard limited leading point-scorer Cam Milligan, to no goals on six shots in the second half, and junior goalie Rob Shaw stopped eight of the nine shots on goal he saw after the break.

“Rob Shaw made saves, which inspired his teammates,” Wojcik said. “At the end of the half [Shaw] made a big save for us and got our defense a big stop. Then he came out after halftime and played exceptional.”

On the offensive end, the Crimson outscored the Catamounts 3-0 in the third quarter. Junior middie Spencer Evans, who saw increased usage on Saturday, scored the final goal of the quarter—his first of the season. The San Francisco native was assisted by former high school linemate Joe Lang, who had three assists on the day.

Thus the score was knotted at nine apiece heading into the final frame. That’s when Norton and company took over.

—Staff writer Will V. Robbins can be reached at will.robbins@thecrimson.com.

This article has been updated to reflect the following corrections:

CORRECTION: March 6, 2017

A previous version of this story misstated that tri-captain Ryan Norton caused the turnover that led to the Crimson's 11th goal.