Courtesy of Brian Beard

The men’s soccer team continued a successful kick-off of its season with a 3–2 win against Colby College last Friday night. The win bumped the Polar Bears to a 3–0–0 record and moved the Mules to 1–1–0.

Bowdoin fought hard for the beginning of the game, but Colby put up a tough fight. The team held a lead in attempted shots on goal throughout the night, but it did not take the actual lead until 85 minutes into the game.

“We kind of knew that it was going to be a dog fight going in,” Paul Cluskey ’26 said. “It was unfortunate that we let in two goals.… I’m just glad that we stuck in there and were able to get the win.”

In the final minutes, Tyler Huck ’26 weaved the ball up from left field and passed to Cluskey, who scored the winning goal.

“I didn’t really know what happened. I just heard everyone erupt, so I knew that it had gone in,” Cluskey said. “It felt good to be able to get the win for the team. And I kind of blacked out a little bit during the celebration.”

The match was held on the recently renovated Pickard Field. Because of the historic rivalry between Bowdoin and Colby, a large crowd of Bowdoin students showed up to support the Polar Bears.

“A home game on Friday nights with a lot of students there, there was a lot of excitement, and that definitely helped us,” Head Coach Scott Wiercinski said. “No doubt it was a big part of the atmosphere, and that was a lot of fun.”

Huck believes the last-minute home game win was a highlight of the team’s season so far.

“It was super exciting—much more exciting than maybe a normal win—because of how many people were there and the way we won the game. So, it was definitely a special win and not like others.… It was definitely a really fun experience and one of my favorite games I’ve had,” Huck said.

After the Colby win on Friday, the team had little time to celebrate before its match against Husson University (2-1-1) last Tuesday. The Polar Bears built on the momentum of their earlier success and finished with five goals, scoring four of them in the first half of the game, all while keeping the Husson Eagles scoreless.

Although the team currently boasts an undefeated record, Bowdoin has tougher matches ahead. Last year, the team made it to the NESCAC quarterfinals against Tufts University but lost by one goal. Now, the team’s focus is on learning from the late loss last year.

“We want … to get those wins that we’ve just missed out on [last] year…. We can make it to the NCAA because we were right there last year. I know we can make it this year,” Cluskey said.

The Polar Bears will play Connecticut College (2–1–0) tomorrow in New London, Conn. The Connecticut College Camels have only one loss this season and took second place in the 2022 NESCAC Championship. Huck specifically mentioned Connecticut College when asked about the team’s goals for the season.

“I think one goal we have is beating teams like Conn., Middlebury and Amherst and getting those wins,” Huck said. “Then obviously [we want to have] a good regular season, get wins in the postseason and making that [NESCAC] tournament is really what we’re all hoping to do.”

Looking ahead, Wiercinski wants the players to build off the celebratory and competitive momentum driving the season so far. He talked about how he admired the team’s ability to come together against Colby at the end of the tight game.

“Hopefully the guys will derive a lot of confidence and excitement with their recent performance and, hopefully, continue it,” Wiercinski said. “The thing we’re taking away from [the Colby game] is a bit of resilience in the sense that things can go wrong and we can still find a way to win.”