The field hockey team fell to Harvard, 4-0, Saturday in Cambridge, extending their winless streak in Ivy League play to three. The Bears (1-8, 0-3 Ivy) stayed close to their opponents in the first half, but three second-half goals by the Crimson (6-3, 2-1) sealed another defeat.
The first period was dominated by Bruno as they outshot Harvard 10-5 and earned four corners to Harvard's one. But the Crimson did not need many chances to capitalize. At 15:20, with Harvard's second shot on goal, Katelin Wahl found the back of the net on a backhand to put Harvard up, 1-0.
The first goal gave Harvard enough momentum to dominate the next 10 minutes of play. They put up three shots on goal while the Bears struggled to recover.
But in the last five minutes, Brown went back on attack, taking half of their first period shots in the final minutes. Forward Haley Alvarez '15 almost put Bruno on the scoreboard with a penalty stroke, but a save by Harvard goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos ensured that Brown would be down at the half.
"We started with the ball and wanted to immediately attack," said Tri-captain Leslie Springmeyer '12.
But Harvard had the same idea. Just 18 seconds into the second half, Noel Painter scored on a pass from Catriona McDonald that had slipped through Bruno's defense.
"We were depleted," Springmeyer said. "We had wanted to do that, and they were able to steal the ball and do it instead."
The Bears were never able to recover from the Crimson's quick strike and had just two attempts on goal in the final half.
"We played pretty well in the first half, so I think that when Harvard scored at the very beginning of the second half, it was hard for us to keep our composure and things got a little disjointed and frantic," said Tri-captain Bridget McNamara '12.
For the next 18 minutes, Harvard dominated on offense, taking shot after shot until their seventh attempt put them at a three-goal advantage.
The attack on Bruno's defense continued, and the Crimson managed to put one more past goalie Shannon McSweeney '15 before the whistle blew, putting the final score at 4-0.
The Bears will take on Quinnipiac University (6-4) at home in a non-conference game at 4 p.m. today. According to McNamara, their hope is to take their experience with Harvard into today's game.
"We need to work on how we react to setbacks within games," McNamara said. "That's definitely the number one take away from Harvard and heading into Quinnipiac. Because we're still developing, mistakes will happen, and that's fine. It's how we carry ourselves afterwards and respond to adversity within games that will make the difference against Quinnipiac and in the rest of the season."
