The women’s lacrosse team secured a first-round NESCAC tournament home bid this week with a 9-4 win at Wesleyan on Saturday and a crucial 11-10 triple-overtime win at home against Colby on Tuesday.
The Polar Bears, who are ranked No. 9 nationally, improved their conference record to 7-2 (10-2 overall) and currently sit at third place in the NESCAC with just two regular season conference games remaining.
Bowdoin played well under pressure against Colby in the team’s midweek game. After squandering a six-goal lead with only 16:32 to go in the match, the squad had to settle its nerves and continue to fight through three extra periods.
Captain Carolyn Gorajek ’13 scored the game-winning goal with 2:02 remaining in the third overtime period, bringing her to a total of four goals and two assists in the contest, and 25 goals and 13 assists on the season, to clinch the match for the women.
Captain Hannah Wright ’13 who has led the Bowdoin defense and started all 12 matches this year, said the game was tougher than others.
“Colby was the most physical game I have played this year,” Wright explained. “Neither team wanted to let up and there was constant intensity until the very end.”
Seven goals in the two matches for Jordan Smith ’14 brought her season’s goal tally to 25. Along with Gorajek, Smith has proved to be one of Bowdoin’s most lethal offensive threats.
“The team showed great mental toughness this week against Colby,” said Smith. “We are still looking to take one game at a time, but clinching a home game for the first round of the NESCAC tournament was huge.”
The only two teams that have beaten Bowdoin this year are Middlebury and Trinity, both of which currently sit above the Polar Bears in league standings. Wright believes these two squads are some of the best in the nation and that the losses suffered at their hands only fuel the team to improve.
“Our two losses against Trinity and Middlebury give us motivation, if we want to do well this season we know we will have to face them again,” Wright said.
Midfielder Molly Popolizio ’14 is optimistic about the message behind the losses.
“I think taking each game we play as if it were a Trinity or Middlebury is very important. In those games we were not doing the little things right and if we focus on staying crisp and focused in our future matches then we have the quality to beat anyone,” said Popolizio.
The women look forward to two non-conference games this weekend. Tomorrow they will travel to Wheaton College and on Sunday they will host Colorado College.
Popolizio said she is excited about the upcoming postseason, but is not overlooking the important contests that lie ahead.
“We want to go as far as we possibly can,” said Popolizio, “but this week we will focus on preparing for our games against Wheaton and Colorado. Both of these matches are crucial in determining our regional rankings for the national tournament.”
The excitement and energy in the squad this season is constantly causing the players to improve.
“Coming into the season we didn’t know what to expect, but we have been continually surprising ourselves with how well we have been doing,” said Wright. “Seeing all the little things come together and playing the season game by game is very exciting and rewarding.”