After winning the first five games of its season, the women’s lacrosse team split two matchups last weekend, losing to Middlebury 15-10 before beating Williams 9-6. After returning only three starters from last year’s squad, the team is fourth in NESCAC standings, behind three still-undefeated teams: Middlebury, Colby and Trinity. The Polar Bears (6-1, 5-1 NESCAC) will play three games at home this week, facing Trinity (7-0, 4-0 NESCAC), Endicott and the University of Southern Maine.  

 The women’s first loss of the season came in a back-and-forth loss to an undefeated Middlebury team last Saturday.

The Panthers swung out to an early 2-0 lead just three minutes into the match, but attacker Mackenzie Schleicher ’14 brought the Polar Bears their first goal shortly thereafter. Middlebury again poured on the offensive pressure, piling on two more goals to make the game 4-1. 
Schleicher again came through for Bowdoin, scoring her second unassisted goal of the day to reduce the Panthers’ lead to just two. The rest of the first half went much the same, with Middlebury’s scoring coming mostly in two-goal bursts, separated by scores from Lindsay Picard ’16, Jordan Smith ’14, and  with under two minutes, captain and leading goal scorer, Carolyn Gorajek ’13. The high-scoring half ended 9-5 in favor of the Panthers, who outshot Bowdoin 19-10. In the first, the Polar Bears struggled with finishing on their many opportunities—the team forced 10 Middlebury turnovers while only giving up four of their own. 

Bowdoin returned from the intermission with new determination, and the second period proved to be a much more even battle than the first. Despite losing a goal to Middlebury in the first five minutes, Betsy Sachs ’14 scored less than 30 seconds later to stifle Middlebury’s momentum.

 Back-to-back goals by Schleicher and Gorajek brought Bowdoin to within three goals of tying the game, but the Panthers played some of their stoutest defense of the match, limiting Bowdoin to just one shot even though they gave up two turnovers to the Polar Bears.

The Panthers brought the goal-differential back to five after the nearly 10-minute drought, putting the game largely out of reach with  just 10 minutes left. Smith scored twice in the remaining time but two Middlebury goals brought the final mark to a rather dissapointing 15-10. 

The Polar Bears suffered from poor defensive play outside the crease—goalkeeper Tara Connolly ’13 was bombarded with 28 shots and stopped 13. On the other hand, the Panthers’ goalkeeper was pressured with just 14 total shots.  

Bowdoin had a much different game on Sunday against Williams. This time the Polar Bears got out to the early offensive start, with Gorajek slamming away two free position goals to get Bowdoin’s attackers rolling. Sachs and Olivia Raisner ’15 added goals of their own to give their team a dominating 4-0 lead with 17 minutes left in the first half. Williams showed great poise despite the Bowdoin onslaught, capitalizing on a shift in momentum to add three goals, sending the teams into intermission with a closer 4-3 contest. 

Reminiscient of the start of the game, Picard opened up the scoring four minutes into the final period. Gorajek, who had tied Bowdoin’s scoring record with her previous goal, broke the record with her 146th career score seven minutes into the second half.  
Sachs and Megan O’Connor ’16 helped pound the Ephs defense, bringing the game to 8-3 in the first ten minutes. 

The Ephs pressed on in the latter part of the second half, scoring three goals before Gorajek added her fourth of the match to bring the final mark to 9-6. 

The Polar Bears ramped up their offensive effort on Sunday, shooting at the Ephs’ goal 29 times while only allowing 16 shots against Connolly.   

Gorajek has led the Polar Bears in scoring this season. She recorded 24 goals in the squads’ first seven games and has eight regular season matches to add to Bowdoin’s career scoring record, which now stands at 147 goals and counting. She now lies only 16 assists away from breaking the assists record and five points away from topping the overall points mark. Gorajek is averaging 4.42 points per game this year, which makes it altogether possible that she could hold two of three scoring records after this weekend. 
Yet Gorajek maintains her humility, and said that the whole team contributes to its success this season. 

“What has been really great is that a lot of younger players have had the opportunity to step up since we lost a handful of valuable seniors last year,” Gorajek explained. “These players are providing higher energy during practices, [which] definitely forces me to keep up the intensity and hustle. And I know the harder we work the better our attacking unit will be able to collaborate during games to produce results.”

“Our biggest strength is that we have 24 players that have the ability to make an impact in every game,” she added.

Two of the more consistent Bowdoin players thus far have been Picard, with seven goals and three assists, and O’Connor, with two goals and three assists. O’Connor noted that she is glad the competitive atmosphere among the athletes has allowed her to keep feeding off her teammates.

“There is no division between the freshman and older girls,” O’Connor said. “Lindsay and I collaborate well with the older players and it has allowed us to achieve some success on the field.”

The Polar Bears’ prolific attack this season has proven to be diverse and consistent. Smith, the second highest-scoring Polar Bear with 11 goals and four assists, was quick to note that the defense has also carried the team. 

“We have one of the best defenses in the NESCAC and playing against them every day at practice has prepared our attack for the strong opponents we are going to face this year,” she said.

 Three vital home games await the Polar Bears this week—they will face stern opposition in an unbeaten Trinity team tomorrow  before playing non-conference Endicott on Sunday and Southern Maine on Wednesday. 

“Trinity will be a very tough game against a tough opponent,” Gorajek said. “Endicott on Sunday is also very important for us; given that they are an out of conference opponent, the win will be very important towards our regional ranking.”

Gorajek said the team has toned down its expectations in order to focus on playing better lacrosse. 

“This year we have been looking at one game at a time, whereas in years before we were focusing on the larger picture,” she said. Lower “expectations from last year’s team have really worked in our advantage as we continue to progress throughout the season.”