On Saturday, Harvard's field hockey team beat Brown, 4-1, in Cambridge on the strength of a 17-4 advantage in shots. Co-captain Andrea Posa '08, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with a knee injury, scored her second goal of the season, but it was not enough to lead the field hockey team (0-7 overall, 0-2 Ivy League) to a victory over the Crimson (5-2, 2-0).
Posa said the Bears showed a lot of heart in a tough defeat.
"It was a heartbreaking loss," she said. "We went into that game with pretty high hopes. Losing to an Ivy League team definitely hurts more, because it's a league game and now we know we're 0-2 in the league, so we'll have to come back from (that)."
Harvard struck first at 11:10 when defender Devon Shapiro fired a shot past goaltender Kristen Hodavance '08 after a penalty corner, but Posa answered for Brown only 5:19 later.
"I got the ball at the top of the circle and barely had time to get a shot off," she said. "I drove it right into the right corner of the cage. It was a straight shot from the top of the circle."
"It was awesome, such a great feeling (to tie the game)," she said of the goal. "You get the chills every time. It's 1-1 now, (so) now you know you're back in the game. Too bad we couldn't get another couple, though."
Harvard fought back and took a lead it would not relinquish when Jana Berglund knocked home a pass from Maggie McVeigh at 22:57, then added an insurance goal 6:15 before halftime when Tami Jafar one-timed a pass from Kayla Romanelli along the right side.
The Crimson outshot the Bears 6-3 in the first half and poured it on in the second half to gain advantages of 11-1 in shots, and 6-0 in penalty corners. However, Harvard managed to score only one more goal during that time, when Jafar scored her second goal of the game by deflecting Francine Polet's shot into the cage.
Hodavance made four second-half saves to keep the Crimson from pulling any farther away before giving way to backup goaltender Lauren Kessler '11. Kessler faced no shots-on-goal in her collegiate debut.
"It was really awesome to see Lauren Kessler ... come in towards the end of the game," Posa said. "She was really stepping up and communicating with everyone. That's great to see, especially from someone coming off the bench."
Posa suffered a knee injury two weeks ago after a game against Dartmouth. Her absence hindered the team during losses to the University of Maine, Georgetown University and the University of Rhode Island.
"I was really, really pumped for this game," she said. "It's great to be back out there. I'm just happy to be playing."
Brown, currently in the midst of a four-game road trip, will next travel to face the University of Massachusetts Minutewomen at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The Bears will not return home until they host Princeton on Oct. 13.
While it has been a tough start for Brown, this team is resilient and itching to turn the tide.
"I think we have to keep our heads up, keep our confidence and believe that we're going to turn this around," Posa said. "It's all about being positive and not giving up, especially when we still have so much to play for, like our team (and) ourselves. We need to prove ourselves to everyone who doubts us."