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Volume CXXXII, Number 4 |
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McClure Leads Field Hockey to Double Victories
ALLIE YANIKOSKI
STAFF WRITER
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| Practice makes (near) perfect for the Polar Bears, who will carry a sparkling 6-1 record into this weekend's match-up against Tufts. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
Bang, bang, bang, bang! Senior forward Leah McClure led the Bowdoin Field Hockey team to dual home field wins this weekend, over rivals Amherst (2-0) and Middlebury (3-2), claiming four of the five net team goals.
"This weekend was huge," says senior co-captain Sarah Laverty. "We went in wanting to come out 2 and 0, and we did."
After defeating Amherst on Saturday, the Polar Bears faced a strong Middlebury team on Sunday. Assisted by sophomore Marissa O'Neil, McClure opened up the game with an early goal.
Twelve minutes later, senior co-captain Jackie Templeton set up sophomore forward Colleen McDonald to score. McClure, thanks to assist-queen Templeton, netted the game-winning goal that paved the way to a 3-2 victory.
"Our fast breaks down the field were definitely a threat to [Middlebury] due to our speed and the fact that our forwards were reading each other extremely well this weekend," said Templeton. "We had a lot of chances at close goals, so we were really glad to have executed the ones that we did."
The Polar Bears optimized their seven shots on Middlebury's goal to earn the victory despite being out-shot by the Panthers who totaled 18 shots on goal. Goalie Gillian McDonald '04 thwarted all but two of these shots.
"Middlebury is always a tough game," said McDonald, "[because] they play a very different system than any other team in our conference, but we really shut [them] down and frustrated them with our defensive skills."
McDonald also commended the defensive effort against Amherst, saying that "We played great defense versus Amherst and really took our game to them. Amherst could not get [the ball] past their 50-yard line."
Cornered by the Polar Bears, Amherst's goalkeeper K.C. Cosentino resisted 23 of the 25 shots on goal taken by Bowdoin players. McClure scored both goals, assisted first by O'Neil and later by junior Amanda Burrage.
Despite competing on back-to-back days, Laverty said, "we played the best I've ever seen our team play on Sunday against Middlebury. It was a great game and an incredible victory - one that we worked really hard to earn."
Templeton added, "As a team we had great passing and communication. We were so motivated and focused that by no means did our big win over Williams make any of us feel like we didn't need to give our full 100%."
After this weekend's successes, Bowdoin holds a 6-1 record. The Polar Bears will next face Tufts this Saturday at home on the Howard Ryan Field. Templeton forewarned the Jumbos, saying "we just can't wait to play again with the same fire!"