The women's rugby team will battle for playoff positioning against Radcliffe in its final regular season game.
Radcliffe defeated Bowdoin by a score of 41-10 last fall and the Polar Bears are looking for revenge.
"They are definitely a beatable team," said head coach MaryBeth Mathews. "And we have, man for man, the ability to match every one of them and then some. We lost last year and the team definitely wants to avenge last year's loss."
Both Bowdoin and Radcliffe are 3-1 in New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) play and should make the playoffs. This game will determine which team would get a more favorable playoff seeding.
"Radcliffe is going to be a great game," said captain Loryn Fridie '11. "We are both 3-1 and are playing for a higher seed in the playoffs. We had a rough match against them last year, but that was mainly due to our own mistakes. If we can play our game and reproduce some of our great moments from this past weekend, we will be fine."
Bowdoin will come into the weekend riding the momentum from a strong victory over the University of New Hampshire.
The Polar Bears traveled into the Wildcats' homecoming atmosphere last Friday evening.
"There was a lot of energy on their sidelines," said Mathews. "It was exciting to be there."
Despite the crowd, the Polar Bears jumped out to an early lead with an explosive play from the center by Carolyn Levin '11 who fed the ball to winger Kerry Townsend '13 for the try. Captain Becky Stevens '11 converted the kick. The Wildcats responded with their own try to bring the score to 7-5 in favor of Bowdoin.
"Communication was actually very good because [we] had to talk more due to the amount of noise from their fans." said Mathews. "It was challenging in that they had so much fan support, and their team is a team that we respect a lot because despite lack of experience they play hard the whole time."
The strong play of the captains and the support of an improving backline kept the scoring pressure on the Wildcats. Fridie scored twice, and Katie Mathews '12 and Townsend scored a goal apiece. Both tries were assisted by Levin.
"We took advantage of their weaknesses and played some really good rugby," said Mathews. "The passing, timing and execution of the offensive plays by the back line worked beautifully."
The Bowdoin defense stayed strong with good play and counter-attack moves by Helen White '13, Marketia James '12, Zara Bowden '13 and Sian Riebe '14.
"At times it was all 15 meshing, thinking, talking, supporting each other well," said Mathews. "And there were times the team made mistakes and UNH capitalized."
The second half scoring for the Polar Bears was the product of good team play with forward support. Flanker Uche Esonu '13 scored twice along with a try by flanker Allie Dupont '12. Rebecca Silva '11 converted one kick and played good defense at fullback. The final score was 48-10 in favor of Bowdoin.
"The team played well this weekend. We had moments that were amazing, but also some sloppy play," said Fridie. "We will use this week of practice to clean it up. Our backs ran some great lines and our forwards continued to ruck well."
The B side continued its strong season with a 27-0 victory over the Wildcats. Anissa Tanksley '14, Althea Cavanaugh '13 and Autumn Nelor '14 all played well and gained valuable experience. Silva scored twice along with White, Paulina Rodis '14 and Lynn Freedman '13.
"The B team is undefeated and playing wonderfully," said Mathews. "Some players play in the end of the A game and then the B game. Rugby is always like that because you're looking to get people experience."
"If this teams goes out and plays with the chemistry and inclusion they have been working on," added Mathews, "they willl be very happy."