CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard scored two first half goals and then withstood an offense flurry by the Big Red to steal a 2-1 victory from Cornell this afternoon on Jordan Field. With the loss, the Big Red falls to 8-4 on the season and is now tied for first place in the Ivy League with Dartmouth and Princeton with a record of 3-1.
 
Cornell held the edge in shots 10-8, including a mark of 7-4 in the second half, and a huge advantage in penalty corners at 7-1 but couldn't come back after falling behind 2-0 at the half.

Both goalies -- the Big Red's Kelly Johnson and Harvard's Issy Davies -- made four saves. 
 
Catriona McDonald got Harvard on the board in the 18th minute when she redirected a blast by Hannah Wellington that came from outside the circle. Just over six minutes later, it was a 2-0 game when Noel Painter scored an opportunistic goal, as a Cornell clearing attempt out of the circle went directly to her stick and she sent it into the goal.
 
The Big Red cut the deficit in half when Marisa Siergiej tallied her career-high 11th goal of the season on a penalty corner shot in the 51st minute. The goal was the 26th of her career, moving her into an eighth place tie with Beth Paciello (1985-88) in Cornell history for career goals. Taylor Standiford, who took the insertion pass and moved around a defender before slotting the pass to Siergiej, earned her ninth assist of the season.
 
Cornell remains on the road next weekend when it travels to Brown on Saturday, Oct. 25, before playing its final non-conference game of the season with a neutral site contest vs. No. 20 Maine at the University of Albany on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.