Syracuse lost their second straight game, falling to Harvard at the JMA Wireless Dome, 15-14. It is the first time in 19 tries that the Crimson have beaten the Orange.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Harvard goalie Graham Stevens is a freshman playing his third collegiate game. Stevens was considered the best goalkeeping prospect in his high school class.

He gave up goals in his first five shots on target, but the five-star recruit settled in and delivered for the Crimson. Syracuse fired 27 shots on goal and Stevens had 13 impressive saves.

After a rough first period, Stevens recorded a save percentage of 72.22 percent, part of a steady Harvard defense. Stevens had seven saves in the second period, helping Harvard get back in the game after a rough start.

“[Syracuse] scored five [goals], I didn't even touch the ball,” Stevens said. “All I wanted was just someone to pass me in the clear to feel the ball. Once I felt the ball, I felt I'd settled in ready to go and just ready to play.”

Syracuse took ten more shots than Harvard, cleaned up 16 more ground balls, caused more turnovers and dominated faceoffs, yet had nothing to show for it once the clock hit triple zeros.

The Orange and Crimson both had 15 turnovers, but 12 of Syracuse’s were self-inflicted compared to six from Harvard. Syracuse had a shot-on-goal percentage of 54 percent compared to Harvard’s 60 percent.

For the second straight game, the Orange had trouble finding offense after halftime with only two second half goals against Maryland and four today against Harvard.

“We were just making mistakes, we weren't crisp or sharp enough,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said. “We threw a few passes away, we dropped balls… we had opportunities to capitalize and we didn't.”

In goal, Jimmy McCool had some shaky moments.

In the second period he dropped a save, giving Harvard an open net. Moments later he took the ball past midfield and fired it backwards to a Harvard player, a shaky moment ultimately saved by an offsides call. After recording a save percentage of 33 percent, McCool was replaced by Michael Ippoliti in the second half.

There were more poor moments on offense.

In the fourth period down a man and with the ball, the Orange opted to wait 60 seconds to allow themselves to play with another man. Syracuse left themselves 20 seconds on the shot clock and couldn’t manage to find a good look.

The game ended when Syracuse failed to put up a shot after getting the ball with 15 seconds left by their own goal. The Orange lost and recovered the ball multiple times and couldn’t advance the ball far enough to find a good look to tie the game.

It was a fitting end.

Faceoff specialist John Mullen had the best game of his career, going 28-31 from the faceoff X. He recorded 18 ground balls and only turned the ball over once.

Mullen, a sophomore, split reps at the X with Mason Kohn last season, but took all but one faceoff against Harvard.

“I thought he was outstanding, certainly a bright spot in today's game was his dominance at the X and we didn't take advantage of it,” Gait said. “We hope he can continue playing at that level.”

Harvard had three different players at the X who were a combined 4-32 on faceoffs.

Mullen helped Syracuse score in their first five possessions starting the game up 5-0. After the first period Harvard won every period by a combined score of 12-8.

Syracuse trailed in the fourth but Mullen helped give them a chance winning all six faceoffs in crunch time.

There may be a couple different places to put the blame for Syracuse’s second straight loss; Mullen, however, is in the clear.

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