The women’s soccer team remained victorious after their first two home games of the season, beating Amherst last Saturday and Bates on Wednesday.
The team had not beaten Amherst in the regular season since 2005, and this game marked the Lady Jeffs first defeat of the season.
“This has been nine years in the making,” said captain Kaley Nelson ’15. “We were expecting a tough game. They always give us a tough game because they’re traditionally ranked as one of the best teams in the country, and definitely in the NESCAC.”
Bowdoin stayed strong throughout the game, retaining possession the majority of the time. At the end of the first half, the match was still scoreless. It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes that Jamie Hofstetter ’16 scored Bowdoin’s only goal on a penalty kick.
“Kiersten [Turner ’16] cut into the middle, just like we ask our attackers to do, and drew the foul for the PK,” head coach Brianne Weaver said. “Then Jamie did a great job finishing that. She’s very calm under pressure.”
Turner also praised the team’s defensive showing, describing it as “stellar.” Goalie Bridget McCarthy ’16 saved all eight of Amherst’s attempts at scoring, and the team cleared the ball away from the net in the last few minutes of the game.
“There was a scramble in front of our net with just a few minutes left and we were able to clear the ball off the line, so that saved the game for us in many ways,” Weaver said. “The whole back line played exceptionally well as a unit, probably the best I’ve seen.”
Practices this week improved the team’s cohesiveness, especially considering that this was the first full week of practice after the hectic rush of first-year tryouts.
“So much of [what we worked on in practice] was chemistry related and understanding how people work and trying to get the team on the same page,” Weaver said. “But the team did an amazing job of working very hard in the practices leading up to the game. It was just nice to see it pay off.”
Even after one player got sick and was unable to play, each member of the team retained her cool.
“We were shifting things around in the warm up prior to the game and that can be disconcerting and cause some anxiety. The team never let that show,” Weaver said. “They were just very calm and collected and said, OK, this is what we have to do, so we’ll do it.”
And they did it well, controlling the defense, maintaining possession and taking more shots on goal than Amherst did.
“Evan Fencik ’17 played a beautiful ball, chipped it over the goalie’s head. But it hit the post and that would have made it two-nothing. But that’s definitely a play that stands out in my mind,” Nelson said.
On Wednesday the team squared off against Bates, beating the Bobcats 1-0.
Kiersten Turner ’16 knocked in the eventual game-wining goal in the 27th minute off of an assist from Abby Einwag ’15.
Although Bates had a couple of chances to even the score in the final 10 minutes of the game, the Polar Bears dominated possession and had opportunities throughout both halves to extend their lead.
The Polar Bears dominated possesion and had oppurtunities to extend its lead in both halves. They never scored a second goal however, leaving the door open for the Bobcats who had a couple of chances to even the score in the final 10 minutes.
“Every single game that we go into we obviously want to win and we’re not expecting necessarily to get the win easily,” Nelson said. “We’ll be working a lot, again, on working as a unit, on defense, on offense, on just maintaining possession and controlling the game as much as we can.”
The team hopes to extend its winning streak tomorrow when it travels to Middlebury.