In the first three weeks of March the men and women's basketball and ice hockey teams, as well as the men's swimming and diving team all finished their seasons in various stages of NESCAC and NCAA play.
In dramatic fashion, the women's basketball team ended its season after a heartbreaking 61-60 loss to Amherst in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The one point loss was the result of an incredible turnaround after the Lord Jeffs had beaten the Bears 71-47 in the NESCAC semifinals. Juniors Alexa Kaubris and Maria Noucas led the Bears with 14 and 12 points, respectively, but the team could not convert on a final attempt to take the lead when the Bears received the ball with 9.7 seconds remaining in the game.
The men's basketball team pulled one of the greatest upsets in school history, beating No. 1 nationally ranked Amherst 65-64 in the NESCAC semifinals before falling 74-55 to Trinity in the conference championships.
The Amherst victory, however, ensured the Bears' at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the team's first since 1999 and only the third in team history. The Bears found success in the tournament as well, beating Curry by 30 points before being forced out in the second round by way of a 15-point loss to Brandeis. Amherst, despite its loss to the Bears in the NESCACs, would go on to the national championship before losing to Washington University.
The men's ice hockey team suffered one of its worst defeats in recent team history. The Bears had been in strong contention for the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC going into the final weekend of regular season play, but were bumped to No. 3 after a loss to Norwich. The difference in seeding seemed negligent at first, considering Bowdoin had beaten Trinity, the No. 6 seed, 7-1 in their previous meeting in Connecticut.
However, in the home playoff game, the Bears offense was suffocated by Trinity first year goalie Wesley Vesprini, and the team lost 5-2, abruptly terminating Bowdoin's season.
After squeaking into the NESCAC playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the NESCAC, the women's ice hockey team fell in the quarterfinals, losing 5-1 to Amherst.
The team's four-goal loss came despite out-shooting Amherst in the first two periods and 16 saves by junior goalie Emileigh Mercer. The loss put the team's record at 5-12-6 on the season.
Sophomore Sean Morris highlighted the men's swimming team's ninth place finish out of 11 teams in the NESCAC meet held at Middlebury.
Morris broke the school record for the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 23.69 and placed in sixth in the championships. Senior Ben Rachlin came in seventh in the 50-yard backstroke, but it was the performances by Adam Karl '08 and Matt Seward '11 in the middle- and long- distance freestyle events that Head Coach Brad Burnham chose to comment on.
"Those freestyle races were a couple of the highlight swims of the meet, along with Morris's school record in the butterfly. Overall, our freestylers and flyers were superb," Burnham said.