The women’s lacrosse team (9-2, 5-2 NESCAC) beat out Endicott (7-4) last Saturday and pulled off a decisive win against rival Colby (9-3, 4-3 NESCAC) on Tuesday. Tuesday was also Bowdoin’s Senior Day. The Polar Bears hope to continue their winning streak this weekend against Connecticut College (3-8, 1-6 NESCAC).
The 13-8 win against Endicott marked a shift in the team’s morale, coming off of a dog fight win against fellow Maine school, Bates (6-7, 2-6 NESCAC) and back-to-back losses against top-seeded teams Trinity (11-1, 7-1 NESCAC) and Middlebury (9-1, 5-1 NESCAC).
“We’d obviously hit a bit of a lull and it’s hard to go through a season and come off of two big games in a row,” said Lindsay Picard ’16, “Trinity and Middlebury are great, but [the Endicott game] has been really great for us to refocus on how we choose to play and the standard we choose to set for ourselves.”
Mettler Growney ’17 emphasized how the team came together to pull off the win.
“Our attack worked really well together,” she said. “[Endicott’s] goalie was really good, so they made a couple saves on us—we were a bit startled. But then we just got moving on attack with good combinations and feeds inside the 8-meter, and one-on-ones worked a lot.”
The Polar Bears went into the second half hot, leading Endicott 8-2. Growney and Picard added a combined 7 goals and 3 assists. The team pulled away to for the win by a 5 goal margin in the end, fighting back a three-goal final push by the Gulls.
“I would never remember that they scored,” Growney said. “That’s not something I would take away from the whole game. I think we played a really hard, full game.”
Picard echoed how impressed she was by her teammates’ performance.
“When you’re up by that much you sometimes don’t push yourself until the end. But overall, I think the second half was huge for us regardless,” said Picard. “What was hard was that Endicott really pushed themselves until the very end and that was something that they did really well, but I don’t think it takes away from how we played.”
Growney stressed the importance of the win against Endicott with a potentially tough matchup against Colby, then the second ranked team in the nation, on the horizon.
“It’s really great that we had this result against Endicott this weekend because we’re coming away with a lot of confidence—much needed against the number two,” said Growney.
Last year the Polar Bears lost by one goal after Colby scored in the final minutes of the game.
“We want to get revenge,” said Growney. “The stakes are high. The [Trinity] and [Middlebury] games—we could have won those games too, but what really counts is doing the little things right.”
The team got pumped up for the game, knowing they needed to work together to realize their potential and earn the win on the Polar Bears’ Senior Day.
“The energy in the locker room beforehand and on the field and in the huddle during the game was confident, but not too confident,” said Growney. “We knew that we had the ability to win; we had a lot of enthusiasm and self-belief.”
Carrying this energy throughout the game enabled the team to play with finesse and to successfully execute the small details that proved crucial to their success.
“[Our] energy allowed us to win 50-50 battles during the game that, in the end, added up and decided the game,” said Growney. “Overall the game was a very competitive, fun battle and we pulled off the win together as a team.”
Picard praised her team’s desire to win and its style of play, which she credited to the seniors’ leadership.
“Overall we’ve had an amazing season. It’s the best team that I’ve seen in my three years playing here,” said Picard. “Everybody wants it, starting from a really strong group of seniors.”
Growney echoed that sentiment.
“I don’t know Bowdoin Lacrosse without [the seniors],” said Growney. “It’s going to be a really big change because they have all been incredible mentors.”
Picard identified senior leadership as a key to the team’s success so far this season, and said this leadership will continue to positively impact their season beyond the conference championship into the national tournament.
“Because it’s their last year, they really want it, and they’re leading the team in an amazing way—everything generates and sparks from them,” said Picard. “We’re looking to take it really far this season and so far we’ve proven that we have the ability to do that.”
The Polar Bears return to action against Connecticut College (3-8, 1-6 NESCAC) this Saturday at noon.