Liza Kaufman, Photography Editor

The women’s soccer team (3–8–0, 1–3–0 Ivy) lost on Sunday to Harvard (5–4–2, 3–1–0) with a final score of 2–0 in favor of the Crimson. 

While the Bulldogs played a solid 90 minutes, the offense was unable to convert on its chances, and the team couldn’t find the back of the Harvard net.

“We executed the game plan pretty well and were on the front foot the entire first half but unfortunately were not able to get rewarded for our product,” head coach Sarah Martinez said in an interview.

The Bulldogs entered into the game looking to maintain positive momentum after a win over the Princeton Tigers (3–5–3, 2–2) on Oct. 4. On the other side of the pitch, the Crimson were coming off of back-to-back wins against Princeton and Cornell (4–5–4, 1–3). 

The Crimson started the game off strong. In the ninth minute, a throw-in on the right side of the pitch to Harvard midfielder Susie Long began a Crimson attack. Long dribbled down the pitch and passed to Elsa Santos López who fired in a goal past Yale goalkeeper Kyla Holmes ’27. 

The Elis attempted to bounce back right after the goal, holding possession for most of the remaining minutes in the half. While they were unable to score, they kept the game well within reach.

“The simplest way to put it — we have to score goals when we create as much as we did,” Martinez said.

The second half remained a stalemate until the 74th minute, when Harvard tallied another goal. Anna Rayhill dribbled in between several Elis to the Yale six-meter box, where she fired the ball past Holmes.

Neither team scored in the last fifteen minutes and the final whistle blew with Harvard up by two. Throughout the run of play, the Elis recorded eight corner kicks in comparison to Harvard’s two, and 12 shots in comparison to nine.

In previous games, the Bulldogs have similarly failed to capitalize on scoring chances. In five of Yale’s eight losses this season, the Bulldogs have not scored a single goal. 

“Goals change games,” Martinez said. “I thought we created more than enough to win this game but we just couldn’t execute the final product. Our focus this week is going to be on the attacking side of things as we need to score goals going into these next three games.”

The Elis still remain hopeful for the rest of the season, with three league games left against Columbia (4–5–3, 2–1–1), Penn (4–3–5, 0–2–2) and Dartmouth (6–2–4, 2–0–2). The final home game against the Big Green will also be Yale’s Senior Day game.

The Bulldogs currently sit in seventh place in the Ivy League regular season standings, but the path to tournament play is still in their hands.

“The exciting thing is we are still in control of our own destiny,” Martinez said. “The league is wide open and we just need to focus on a great week of training and getting a win at Columbia this weekend.”

The Bulldogs will head to New York City to face off against Columbia on Saturday at 7 p.m.