Of the last four games for the men’s soccer team, two have ended in double overtime. A game against Connecticut College before fall break ended in a tie due to exceptional play from both goalkeepers. Will Wise ’14 provided six saves for Bowdoin.
Last Sunday, Bowdoin hosted Williams, another tough NESCAC team. The Polar Bears found the back of the net early when first year Andrew Jones found Zach Danssaert ’14 after a defensive miscue from the Ephs. Williams answered and then took the lead at the beginning of the second half before Andrew Gray ’15 put a header away to tie the game up near the end of regulation. Bowdoin controlled the play for most of the first two overtime periods and produced a few quality opportunities, but a lucky Williams forward was able to find the back of the net off a chest-shot to end the game.
“[Williams] was our most complete performance, but the luck didn’t really go our way,” said senior captain Michael Gale.
“We played well in both the games and in both games we outshot the opponents,” said Head Coach Fran O’Leary. “Its a little unfortunate that we didn’t get more out of the game, but it was two good performances for our lads and if we can make those performances going forward we should be fine for the rest of season.”
Bowdoin won both of its other games. The team handily defeated St. Joseph’s 4-0 with two goals each from Danssaert and Sam White ’15.
The Polar Bears traveled to Colby last Saturday and quickly took the lead off of a well-scored goal by Eddie Jones ’13. The only other goal in the game came from a successful penalty kick by Eric Goitia ’15 that secured the 2-0 victory.
“I think Colby was a big bounce-back game for us,” said Gale. “Because teams are so tough in the NESCAC you need to play your best for 90 minutes to get the result that you want.”
“We got the rub of the green against Colby,” said O’Leary. “Eddie Jones scored a tremendous goal to send us on the way for a win and it’s always a difficult place to get a win.”
The men’s soccer team will travel this weekend to play Hamilton and Amherst Colleges in a pivotal weekend of conference play. Bowdoin faces Hamilton first on Saturday afternoon. Hamilton (3-6-1 overall, 1-5-1 NESCAC) has struggled in conference play, most recently in a loss against Middlebury. The Polar Bears will then have their shot at the nationally second-ranked Amherst Lord Jeffs in what should be an exciting game on Sunday.
“It’s a very difficult road trip, we’ll cover a lot of miles over a couple of days and we’ll play a couple of good teams,” said O’Leary. “Our focus has been to get into the NESCAC tournament and one more win will put us on 13 points and that should suffice.”
The Polar Bears have been playing well and both the Continentals and the Lord Jeffs should prove to be good match ups as the teams start to look towards the post season in November.
Men’s soccer to face Amherst over weekend
Comments are permanently closed.