Volume CXXXI, Number 21 April 12, 2002 f

Bears fired up to face Panthers
HEATHER MacNEIL
STAFF WRITER

The women's lacrosse team's record is 7-1 and includes winds over Connecticut College and Tufts University. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient)

NESCAC play is only a few weeks under way, and the Bowdoin Women's Lacrosse Team has already surpassed last year's total of six wins with its record of 7-1. They cruised past the Connecticut College Camels and the Tufts University Jumbos two weeks ago and went into last weekend's competitions against Wesleyan University and Williams College feeling confident.

The Bears came out strong against Wesleyan and scored five quick goals early in the first half to post a 5-0 lead. Wesleyan did not tolerate this lead for long, however, and closed the gap with a four goal run. Sophomore Shoshana Kuriloff played an impressive game, scoring not only the first two goals of the game, but also three more to stunt Wesleyan's comeback with a 9-4 lead early in the second half. However, with less than ten minutes left in the game, Wesleyan responded to Bowdoin's lead and scored four more goals to tighten the score to 9-8.

The Bears held strong with help from impressive leadership by senior captain Kristi Perine, who scored with five minutes left in the game which ended in a 10-8 win. Other goal-scorers include Libby Bourke, Lindsay Powers and Beth Sherman.

Williams provided tougher competition, handing Bowdoin its first loss of the season and frustrating the team by capitalizing on many of its small mistakes. The first half ended with Williams leading 6-4, but the Bears rallied quickly and attacked. A goal by Junior Lindsay Powers gave them the team its first lead of the game at 10:49. However, after a timeout called by Williams, Bowdoin could not regain its momentum, and despite a last minute goal by sophomore Amanda Burrage, the Bears lost 11-8. Elsbeth Pratt, Beth Sherman, Kristi Perine also scored against Williams.

The team is really looking forward to this weekend's contest against Middlebury College. "We're really fired up to play," says Perine, "They're the defending National Champions, but we feel that if we bring our best game to them that we'll give them quite a challenge." Bowdoin's next home game is April 20 at 2:00 p.m., against Amherst College.