Men's soccer is the team to beat in the NESCAC. The team's current five-game tear is Bowdoin's longest winning streak since the 2003 campaign.
The Polar Bears look to continue their success against Connecticut College on Saturday and Husson on Tuesday, both of which are teams that Bowdoin beat last year. Last year against Connecticut College, Bowdoin came back from a two-goal deficit to win the game 3-2. The Polar Bears beat Husson 3-1, holding them to only three shots in the first period.
This past weekend, Bowdoin soundly defeated rivals Middlebury and Colby, with victories of 1-0 and 3-0 respectively. With the wins, the team advanced to 5-1-0 (3-1-0 NESCAC) for the year, a significant improvement from the 2-4-0 (1-3-0 NESCAC) record that it posted last year at this time. The Bears have kept their opponents scoreless in their last four matches, a testament to goalies Dan Hicks '11 and Garrick Sheldon '10, as well as the Bowdoin defense.
"Defensively, we've been very solid," said Coach Fran O'Leary. "It's the platform to push on and win games. And, we've got players hungry for goals."
In action against Colby on Sunday, the Mules looked to have the upper hand in the first half, possessing well and outshooting the Polar Bears 5-3. However, Bowdoin got a boost from substitutes who came in off of the bench to pocket all three of the game's goals.
Michael Gale '13 ignited the scoring run in the 61st minute with his first goal of the season. After faking out his defender, Gale deftly cut the ball back, and blasted a dipping left-footed shot past a nearby defender and into the left side netting. Hicks kept the lead intact with his denial of a potentially dangerous outside shot by Colby's Josh Lyvers in the 74th minute.
Less than a minute later, Carl Woock '10 collected a ball in the Colby backfield and charged toward the net. Colby keeper Doug Sibor came out against Woock, who chipped the ball over him for the score. Then in the 85th minute, with the game looking to be safely in Bowdoin's hands, Eddie Jones '12 pounced on a through ball from Nick Powell '12 to seal the victory.
The win avenges a 3-1 loss to the Mules last season and improves Bowdoin's record against Colby in their last 13 meetings to 11-1-1. The loss drops Colby to 1-4-1 (0-4-0 NESCAC) for the season.
On Saturday, Bowdoin pulled off an impressive shutout against powerhouse Middlebury, which came into the 2009 season ranked No. 6 in the nation in Division III.
The match was hard fought, with the only score of the game coming in the 27th minute off the foot of Tim Prior '11. Danny Chaffetz '11 curved a well-placed cross into the box, allowing a waiting Prior to head it into the far corner of the goal.
The Polar Bears outshot the Panthers 11-6. Hicks was forced to make only one save, while Middlebury goalie Tim Cahill made two stops. With the loss, Middlebury fell to 3-2-1 (1-1-1 NESCAC).
"The first-half performance against Middlebury was as good a performance as one I've seen here at Bowdoin," said O'Leary.
"Our keys to success are fitness and physicality," said co-captain Tom Wakefield '10. "We're going to hope for the best and there is inevitably going to be a tough game that will test us."