STORRS, Conn. – Dance like it’s 1992.

The 14th-ranked Massachusetts field hockey team is headed to the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four for the first time in 32 years, using a 1-0 quarterfinal win over No. 10 Harvard to punch its ticket Sunday afternoon at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex.

Graduate student Claire Danahy, a Chelmsford native, scored the game-winning goal late in the third quarter for the Minutewomen (17-5). The lone goal paired with three quality saves from junior goalie Myrta van Herwijnen and a tone-setting first quarter to help UMass edge a highly-competitive rematch with the Crimson (16-4) from the regular season.

Massachusetts will play No. 2 Northwestern in the national championship semifinals on Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich., in search of its second-ever championship game appearance (1981).

“This group is, they’ve been building and building all season long,” said Minutewomen head coach Barb Weinberg. “I think it was really special. We got to play two teams in the regionals that we had lost to just marginally during the season. And the belief in this team that they could beat UConn and that they could beat Harvard never stopped.”

After a scoring standstill the first 42 minutes despite a bevy of dangerous bids from both teams, Danahy gained the circle toward the left wing for a scoring chance in the 43rd minute. The veteran spun her position for a drive and ripped a shot through traffic past Harvard junior goalie Tessa Shahbo (four saves) for the 1-0 lead.

“It kind of just happened, honestly,” Danahy said. “We were going at them the whole game. So many corners. So, just, it felt really good to just – we had to get one in the back of the net. So, (it felt) just really good.”

Just a few minutes prior, the Crimson seemed to take the lead instead. A penalty corner led to a strong drag flick from Harvard junior Bronte-May Brough that Herwijnen got to with a highlight-reel kick save that ricocheted high and far. A shot got through soon after for a Harvard goal, but it was overturned.

“That’s the bounce-back that we talk about,” Weinberg said. “For us to be able to turn that momentum immediately I think was the key moment in this game.”

Back-and-forth offensive chances characterized the first quarter, but more in UMass’ favor as it accrued five penalty corners and four shots on Shahbo – a few of which she saved chest-high with her blocker. While the Minutewomen couldn’t capitalize early, it was an important tone-setter against a team that edged them via penalty shootout, 3-2.

“We’ve been really focusing on our press, I think that’s something that makes us really dangerous,” said Minutewomen graduate midfielder Izzy Acquaviva, a former local standout at Lincoln-Sudbury. “We just carry a lot of momentum when we play defense. When we win balls in the areas where we’re supposed to win balls, we just gain momentum, and that’s how we attack. … Right off the bat, we came out so hard. We knew they were going to be a hard team, I give them a lot of credit.”

Winning the rematch against the Crimson came a round after UMass upset third-seeded UConn in the first round, which was another rematch against a team that edged it in the regular season.

The Minutewomen just keep finding a way to keep this dream season alive, advancing to their fifth NCAA semifinal appearance in program history – and just the ninth for any of the state’s D-I universities.

“It’s been this team all season long,” Weinberg said. “Our culture’s really strong, the belief in this group is really strong, and they fight for one another. I told them on Friday, after the win (over UConn) that there’s no team in the country that fights for each other like they do, and I think that gives us the extra one percent in a lot of games.”

“It’s awesome, we’ve just been working so hard all season,” Danahy added. “We got our bid, we were the last team in for a bid. … We talked with the team, and just were like, ‘We’ve got to take it one game at a time.’ And I think that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.”