The Bowdoin Orient

With two resounding victories, the women’s ice hockey team is riding a wave of momentum into the playoffs and will host Williams, the seventh seed, in the quarterfinal round of the NESCAC tournament  tomorrow.

After last weekend, Bowdoin remains the No. 7 team in the nation with an overall record of 18-4-2. Amherst has dropped out of the top 10 in the latest poll.

Despite the box scores, Head Coach Marissa O’Neil pointed out that the games were very tight.

After a decade-long absence, alpine ski racing is officially back at Bowdoin reviving one of the College’s oldest traditions. Thanks to efforts by Alex Fogarty ’13 and Duncan Masland ’11, Polar Skiing has been transformed into the College-approved Alpine Skiing Club. Starting as a club around the 1950s, alpine skiing used to be a major fixture of student life. Bruce Chalmers ’59 was one of many Bowdoin students whose life was touched by skiing and now helps support the new Alpine Skiing Club. “I always loved skiing and have been a part of skiing,” Chalmers said. “I insure most of the ski areas in the state so I have always stayed close to skiing.”

The women’s ice hockey team (14-4-2, 8-3-1 NESCAC) stumbled in Hartford this past weekend, where it was swept in a 2-game series by the Trinity Bantams (11-5-4, 6-3-3 NESCAC). The series came down to defense and penalty kills—two categories in which Trinity is ranked No. 1 within the NESCAC. Captain Kayte Holtz ’13 said the low score was due to a lack of rhythm between Bowdoin players on the ice. “Both teams had a lot of penalties which made it difficult to get into a rhythm during the game,” Holtz said. “During our power play we had trouble getting shots on net because they [Trinity] were very aggressive in their defensive play.”

Thanks to the impressive depth of this season’s roster, the women’s ice hockey team fought back from a tie with Williams last Friday to beat the Ephs handily the next day. This kept Bowdoin tenuously atop the NESCAC standings. After tying the Ephs in the first game, the second game was a blowout, with five different players scoring. After the first tie, a loss against the Ephs would have cost the Polar Bears (13-2-2, 7-1-1 NESCAC) their first-place rank. In the first game, Rachel Kennedy ’16 scored the first goal just a few minutes into the opening period, for her 11th net of the season.

After playing 15 games and traveling thousands of miles, the women’s ice hockey team is ranked No. 6 in the nation. Stephanie Ludy ’13 and Rachel Kennedy ’16 have been honored as NESCAC Players of the Week, and Bowdoin is sitting in first place in the NESCAC.

Women’s ice hockey struggled in its season opener on the road, falling 4-1 to Plattsburg State, the top-ranked D-III team according to U.S. College Hockey Online. The women recouped the one-sided loss a few days later, beating UMass Boston by the same score.

After a heartbreaking loss to Amherst in the NESCAC semifinals last year, the women’s ice hockey team is gearing up to build on last year’s successes.

The women’s rugby team defeated Amherst 51-3 and finished the regular season undefeated last Saturday.

The women’s rugby team outscored Colby 46-7 on Saturday, maintaining its perfect record in league play and entering the playoffs as the first seed. Bowdoin (8-0, 5-0 NESCRC) will host the NESCRC playoffs on Saturday, November 3.

The women’s rugby team outscored Colby 46-7 on Saturday, maintaining their perfect record in league play and entering the playoffs as the first seed. Bowdoin (8-0, 5-0 NESCRC) will host the NESCRC Playoffs on Saturday, November 3. Colby and Bowdoin played back and forth in the midfield during the first few minutes, with neither team gaining discernible yardage until the Bowdoin backline broke through, carrying the ball deep into Colby’s defensive zone. Scrumhalf Kameryn Sanchez ’14 passed to prop Anissa Tanksley ’14 who broke through the Colby defense line to score the match’s first try. Randi London ’15 converted the kick to make the score 7-0.

The women’s rugby team (4-0 NESCRC) resumed league play after a bye week and traveled to Rutland, Vt. where they beat Middlebury 26-0. Middlebury kicked off and made a big push into the Bowdoin defensive zone where they trapped the Polar Bears on their goal line.

Bowdoin (3-0 NESCRC) beat Tufts (2-2 NESCRC) over the rainy Family Weekend and remain undefeated this season.

The women’s rugby team dominated Bates from start to finish in a landslide 69-0 win on Saturday, maintaining the team’s perfect record (2-0 NESCAC, 5-0 overall). The Polar Bears are looking to continue their undefeated season against NESCAC opponent Tufts at home this Saturday at 10 a.m.

The women’s rugby team trounced Williams in this weekend’s season opener at home, defeating the Ephs 65-0 to maintain its perfect record (4-0 overall, 1-0 NESCAC). Bowdoin’s explosive offense, combined with a defensive strategy comprised of strong, open field tackles and consistently effective rucking, made for the win. To start the match, Bowdoin carried the ball downfield into the Williams defensive zone, where scrum-half Kameryn Sanchez ’14 fed the ball to Anissa Tanksley ’14. Tanksley then evaded a lone Williams defender to score the first try of the match.

The Bowdoin women’s rugby team cleaned up at last weekend’s Beantown Rugby tournament at UMass-Amherst, beating Williams, Amherst and Smith Colleges with scores of 59-3, 12-0, and 19-0 respectively.

The Polar Bears are now two-time defending Beantown champions and have won six straight matches at the tournament since 2010.

After a 10-3 season last year, the women’s rugby team hopes to continue its success this season despite having graduated six seniors last spring.

This upcoming weekend will be a challenging one for the Bowdoin men's lacrosse team. They hope to advance to their third-ever NESCAC Tournament finals and earn a spot in the national collegiate tournament. It's even more important because it might be the last game for coach Tom McCabe. After 22 years as head coach, he will retire at the end of the season, as he and his wife will be entering the Peace Corps.

With the Summer Olympics just a few months away, Nike and Adidas have begun unveiling some of the new apparel for athletes competing in London. Both companies have tried to improve their equipment by focusing on sustainability and making the uniforms out of recycled fabrics, but I wonder if some of the other innovations are crossing the line.

LeBron James, as part of his partnership with State Farm Insurance Company, has started supporting the company's 26 Seconds campaign to help raise awareness about the number of high school dropouts in the country. The operation calls young people to action to address a hard-hitting statistic: every 26 seconds in the United States, a student drops out of high school.

In the last weekend of the regular season, the women's ice hockey team put up a fight against No. 2 seed Amherst (19-4-1, 13-2-1 NESCAC), but settled for a loss and a tie. The No. 3 seeded Polar Bears (11-9-4, 9-6-1 NESCAC) jumped out to an early lead in Friday's game after taking advantage of an Amherst turnover in the neutral zone, which allowed Kim Tess-Wanat '13 to slap the puck into the goal.

The women's ice hockey team (11-8-3, 9-5-0 NESCAC) broke even against Hamilton (9-12-1, 6-8-0 NESCAC) last weekend, winning the first game but dropping the second.

Usually, the week after the Super Bowl is a big let-down. The closest thing we have is D-I spring football practices, but they're just a poor substitute that holds us over until the NFL starts back up in September.

The women's ice hockey team has been trying to find its rhythm since December, currently hovering in the middle of the NESCAC standings with a record of four wins and four losses.

We're in the home stretch of the fall semester, and I'm excited. Of course, it's not the daunting prospect of finals week that I look forward to. Rather, it's the dramatic buildup to the upcoming indoor track season that has me in such high spirits. My good mood was quickly dampened when I read about the University of Maryland's decision to "fix" its budget crisis by cutting eight varsity sports teams, track and field among them.

I have never been in a fight, though there are moments I wish otherwise. Whenever I see a boxing match on TV, I make sure to watch it because the entire notion behind the sport seems absurd. Two people enter a ring, each with the foreknowledge that the other is trying to knock him out within five, 10 or 15 rounds. It's ridiculous—but also thrilling.

At last weekend's NESCAC Championship, the men's cross country team had its best finish in five years. Seeded fifth, Bowdoin ran to a second-place tie, its best result in the meet since 2006. Behind Williams' score of 49 points, Bowdoin matched Bates with 79 points. The Polar Bears are currently ranked No. 33 in D-III.

At last weekend's NESCAC Championship, junior Olivia MacKenzie's ninth-place finish helped the women's cross country team take sixth overall. She finished the 6K race in 23:07, only a minute behind winner Chiara Del Piccolo of Williams, and was named to the All-NESCAC Second Team.

A year ago, nobody would have guessed that the men's rugby team would be seeded first in the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU). But after a 3-0 victory over Colby last week, the team is approaching its final weekend in good position.

For the second year in a row, Coby Horowitz '14 took home the gold in the Maine State Championship. The men's cross country team traveled to Gray, Maine, last weekend to run the 8K race on a hilly and muddy course. After winning the previous six titles, Bowdoin scored 43 points to finish second behind Bates' 23 points in the 12-team field.

The women's cross country team finished second out of 11 teams this past Saturday at the Maine State Meet. Colby edged out Bowdoin with a three-point victory in the close 5K race. The NCAA has Colby ranked No. 21 this year, marking the third year in a row the Mules have been a top-25 team.

Coming off impressive singles play at the Stony Brook Invitational in early September, the men's tennis team kept the ball rolling at Williams last weekend. At the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championship, unseeded singles players led the way for Bowdoin. In the singles bracket, Chris Lord '14 and Nicholas Fenichell '12 both had impressive runs and collected several victories.

As the only D-III school in a field of D-I and D-II teams, the women's tennis team posted good results and picked up several wins at the Eastern Championship last weekend, held at West Point. The doubles team of Chantalle Lavertu '13 and Emma Lewis '14 reached the semifinals in the A-Division doubles bracket. They defeated Seton Hall, 8-3, and Army, 8-5, but lost 8-6 to the second-seeded Quinnipiac. Emma Chow '15 and captain Hannah Hoerner '12 advanced to the second round of their B-Division doubles bracket.

Coby Horowitz '14 and Olivia MacKenzie '13 led the cross country teams to third- and fourth-place finishes at the inaugural Maine Cross Country Invitational last weekend. The teams began their seasons on Saturday at Pickard Field, as both squads were eager for their home opener. Horowitz was Bowdoin's fastest male finisher in the 8K course, with a time of 25:33.19, good for seventh overall. Sophomores Sam Seekins and Nick Saba finished 10th and 11th, respectively, with captain Matt Hillard '12 just behind Saba. Fellow captain Colin Ogilvie '12, James Boeding '14 and Greg Talpey '14 rounded out Bowdoin's top seven.

The men's tennis team finished its regular season in style, with two wins over rivals Trinity and Colby last weekend. On Friday, the 14th-ranked Polar Bears defeated the 15th-ranked Bantams 7-2 at Harvard.

The men's track team traveled to Wesleyan last weekend to compete in the NESCAC Track and Field Championships, where the Polar Bears claimed sixth place.

The men's tennis team put up a valiant fight against Middlebury in its match last Saturday. Though ranked behind Middlebury, Bowdoin came within a point of an upset.

The men's tennis team posted a late comeback in its two final singles matches to topple 20th-ranked MIT last Friday. The Bears, ranked 14th in the nation, improved to 7-2.

Last weekend, the men's track team bussed to Springfield College to compete in a tri-meet with the hosts and with Middlebury. The meet started off with a dynamite performance by James Boeding '14 in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Over the weekend, men's tennis established itself as the team to beat, easily dispatching Tufts on Sunday and Wesleyan on Monday. The Polar Bears now have a record of 6-2 (2-0 NESCAC).

At the Open New England Indoor Championships last weekend, the men's track team ran against 50 colleges and universities, and placed 22nd.

Prior to Valentine's Day, the Polar Bears were pumping hearts at the Boston University Valentine's Invitational.