Bowdoin men’s soccer (5-3-2, 1-3-2 NESCAC)—the reigning NESCAC champions—face four crucial conference games that will determine the team’s chances of qualifying for this year’s NESCAC tournament. Currently, the team sits at tenth in the conference standings and are not qualified for the tournament, a position that both Head Coach Scott Wiercinski and captain Andrew Jones ’16 believe is not illustrative of the team’s skill. Only the top eight teams in the conference qualify for the post-season tournament. The Polar Bears will play Hamilton this Saturday, followed by Colby, Connecticut College and Tufts in the coming weeks.
Despite a lower than-anticipated ranking, the team has consistently exhibited good playing this season.
“Other than a few blips on the screen, we’ve been playing consistently well to very well,” said Wiercinski. “I think this is what fuels the optimism for the year and for the games remaining.”
“We are confident in what we have been doing this season,” Jones said. “Although we haven’t been getting the results, we have been playing at a good standard of soccer. Moving forward, it’s going to come together.”
Jones notes that the team’s strength is in being well-balanced and versatile. The team possesses size, speed and good technical players who are tactically smart and able to adapt to different styles of play. In addition, the defense has been a strength for the team, only giving up six goals in total. Before this weekend, it had never given up two in one game. However, the team has struggled to create chances in the offense and to follow through to score. According to Jones, it only takes a few seconds for something to change the whole game.
“It comes down to those moments in a game,” said Jones. “Putting in a 90-minute performance every game and bringing the same energy, playing to a standard, is something we can improve on.”
This energy was demonstrated during the team’s recent win against Babson on Monday. While the team got off to a slow start, the Polar Bears scored four goals in the second half.
“Starting at halftime, our energy was fantastic,” said Wiercinski. “We thought a lot less and just played with our legs and with our hearts. As a result of that, things started to feel more natural and more instinctual.”
According to Wiercinski, during these goals, the team did the right thing at the right moment. Wiercinski hopes the energy, goal-scoring and overall level of play the team during this half of the Babson game can be replicated in the future.
In order to compete against these four teams, the team will take it game-by-game and continue the basic strategy they have been using: passing the ball, playing aggressive defense and trying to create chances. According to Jones, two of the most competitive teams, Connecticut College and Tufts, both have strong midfields, meaning that Bowdoin will have to up its defensive strategy.
“[Connecticut College and Tufts] actually like to play soccer, not just kick and run,” Jones said.
“In some ways, we feel like the season is just getting started,” said Wiercinski. “We’re learning a lot about ourselves, and we’re ready to extend our season significantly.”