Courtesy of Brian Beard

In the spring of 2019, attacker Fiona Bundy ’22 first laced up her boots on Ryan Field as a Polar Bear. More than four years later, she now is the captain of the women’s lacrosse team (4–8; 2–6 NESCAC) and is an offensive leader, having scored ten goals in the team’s last three games. In two of these games, Bowdoin faced NESCAC rivals Bates College (5–8; 1–7 NESCAC) and Colby College (9–3; 5–2 NESCAC), during which Bundy scored two and four goals, respectively. Bundy and the rest of the team are preparing to face their final three opponents of the season, starting with Endicott College (6–5) on Wednesday.

Lacrosse has always been a part of Bundy’s life.

“I started lacrosse because my friends were playing,” Bundy wrote in an email to the Orient. “I have always been a competitive person and have loved playing sports. When I found out I could play at Bowdoin, that was just a bonus.”

Her recent strong performances and scoring dominance are a product of her nearly five years of playing at Bowdoin. Bundy explained that her lacrosse career at Bowdoin has been worthwhile but fragmented due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The journey of lacrosse in college has been weird for sure,” she wrote. “I had [first year] season, and then Covid hit during the beginning of my sophomore season [in 2020]. It felt good to play last year, and even though it’s not [been] the typical journey, I’ve learned a lot.”

Bundy added that she values being able to play an additional lacrosse season due to taking the 2020–21 academic year off.

“I am a super-senior, so the best part about the season has just been being able to play another year of lacrosse with a team that I really love,” she wrote. “At Bowdoin, I love lacrosse because of my teammates. Even though the team is completely different [from] the one I had as a first year, the team’s energy and spirit has remained the same. The group of amazing, strong women I have had the chance to connect and build friendships with is truly unbelievable.”

Going forward, Bundy is looking forward to the team’s last few games of the regular season.  After its final home game against Endicott, Bowdoin will travel to face Connecticut College (4–7; 0–7 NESCAC) on Saturday, April 22, and Tufts University (9–2; 5–1 NESCAC) on Wednesday, April 26.

The team hopes to also qualify for the NESCAC tournament—beginning Saturday, April 29. Bowdoin currently sits eighth in the NESCAC, with the top eight of the eleven teams qualifying for playoffs. Should the Polar Bears claim victory in NESCACs, they will advance to the NCAA Tournament, which begins in mid-May.

Although there are many exciting possibilities on the horizon, Bundy emphasized that the team must first focus on its immediate tasks—namely, beating Endicott on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Ryan Field.