After roaring ahead with a pair of wins, the Polar Bears are looking to break the ice this weekend when they go head to head with Williams tomorrow in the NESCAC Semifinals. Having clawed their way past Trinity in the NESCAC Quarterfinals, the Bears are hoping to charge past the Ephs and get within paw's distance of a NESCAC championship.
The winner of the Williams game will face the victor of the Middlebury vs. Wesleyan match in the finals on Sunday. As the top-ranked team in the NESCAC, Wesleyan will be hosting all three games.
If the season is a good indicator, Bowdoin's meeting with Williams should prove exciting. In October, Williams handed Bowdoin its only home loss of the season in an intense 3-2 overtime win that saw numerous lead changes. It was the only game of the season in which Bowdoin conceded a goal in the first half.
"The loss to Williams will spur us on even more," said co-captain Matt Ostrup '10. "The reason we lost was because of mistakes we made, and it's been a while since we made those kind of mistakes."
Bowdoin has shown that it can compete with any team in the NESCAC. The Polar Bears had close regular season matches against the other two semifinalist teams: they defeated Middlebury 1-0, and tied undefeated Wesleyan 0-0.
"Any quarterfinal win helps, but a win this Saturday and an NCAA Tournament bid would be big," said Ben Denton-Schneider '11.
Last weekend, Bowdoin edged Tufts 2-1 before defeating Trinity 3-0 in the NESCAC quarterfinals. Just eight days after Bowdoin had blanked Trinity 2-0 in its penultimate game of the regular season, the Bears jumped into the lead first.
In the 22nd minute, Sean Bishop '12 lofted a perfect ball into the box, where Call Nichols '12 deftly headed it into the upper corner. Bishop was not done, however. In the 52nd minute, he volleyed a bouncing ball from the penalty kick spot to collect his third goal of the season.
Trinity had a number of good looks on net, but most shots sailed wide of the goal or were directed straight at keeper Dan Hicks '11.
In the 69th minute, Trinity's Jason Kulik slid aggressively at Carl Woock '10. The cleats-up tackle earned Kulik a red card, but more significantly, it put an early end to Woock's Bowdoin soccer career. Woock cleanly broke both his tibia and fibula in the play. Following surgery on the day of the game, he is recovering well.
With six minutes left, Nick Powell '11 received a smooth cross-field pass from Tim Prior '11, dribbled past goalie Grant Schonberg, and passed the ball across the goal line. Powell is currently leading the team with seven goals.
Hicks collected another shutout in his six-save effort, while Trinity's Schonberg made 12 saves.
"The two wins against Trinity gave us a bunch of confidence. They were nationally ranked when we first beat them," said Denton-Schneider.
Versus Tufts last Friday, Bowdoin looked to go ahead early off first year Michael Gale's drive, but lunging Tufts defender Alex Hart dove on the goal line to clear the danger.
The game remained scoreless at halftime, until the 61st minute, when Woock crossed a ball to Peter Kelley '13, who beat his defender to the ball for the tally. A mere 86 seconds later, Woock hit a ball to Powell, who struck it to put Bowdoin up 2-0.
However, in the 87th minute, Chris Flaherty ripped a dipping shot that flew past Hicks into the bottom left corner.
In the final minutes, the Polar Bears maintained control and prevented any further Jumbo attacks. Tufts ended the season 2-10-2 (NESCAC 0-8-1). For Bowdoin, the win secured home field advantage in their quarterfinal match against Trinity.
As for the upcoming match, Ostrup said, "We're going to come out really strong against Williams."