Courtsey of Brian Beard

After shutting out Williams College (12–11–1; 5–10–1 NESCAC) twice last weekend, the women’s hockey team (16–7–0; 10–6–1 NESCAC) wrapped up its regular season. With the set of wins, the Polar Bears clinched the fourth seed in the NESCAC tournament and will host the NESCAC quarterfinal in Sidney J. Watson Arena this Saturday for the first time in over a decade.

Bowdoin hit the ground running on Friday less than three minutes into the game when Elena DiMagno ’26 scored her first goal of the season off an assist from Anyi Sun ’26. Sun picked off the Ephs breakout attempt at the blue line and re-entered the zone centering the puck through traffic to set up DiMagno for a one-timer from the slot.

The Polar Bears held a 1–0 lead going into the second period.

Three minutes into the second period, the Polar Bears’ forecheck went to work again, with Ava Provenzo ’28 stealing the puck away from the Ephs winger. Provenzo worked with Abigail Ainley ’26 to bury the puck in the back of the net and put the Polar Bears up by two goals.

“Sometimes teams have tendencies to get a little comfortable when the score is up, but my mindset was to keep pushing forward and keep trying to elevate my own game and the teams,” Provenzo said.

Late in the second period, Luna Lu ’27 got the Ephs goalie off balance, moving her from left to right and finishing with a backhand shot that went five-hole.

Finally, Provenzo cemented the win with her second goal of the night, an empty netter from the left dot assisted by Ainley and Bella Schifano ’28.

“It was a great way to finish off the game and capitalize on the opportunities that we had. It felt good to have four against Williams that game,” Provenzo said.

The Polar Bears finished the game with a 4–0 victory, a 28–19 edge in faceoff wins and a 24–23 lead in shots. Goalie Sarah Peterson ’27 achieved her third shutout of the season with 23 saves.

According to Peterson, a vital part of the team’s win can be attributed to a fully healthy roster.

“For one, when everyone is healthy and the energy is really high, that leads to some pretty amazing hockey, and when everyone on the bench is excited, everyone on the ice is excited,” Peterson said.

The following day, the women’s hockey team celebrated Senior Day with a 2–0 win over the Ephs.

Peterson emphasized the determination the team needed coming off Friday’s victory.

“Because we play a series, it’s hard if you win the first game not to get overconfident in the second game, so I think we were trying to stay even-keeled and keep the energy high but know that it was still going to be a battle the next day,” Peterson said.

The Polar Bears found themselves on the power play early in the second period. Gia Massari ’25 won the faceoff and got the puck to Emma Merrill ’26, who passed it right back to Massari at the right dot. Massari found Meghan Britt ’28 on the backdoor through traffic for the backhand tap-in.

“To find that success and to get a lead was well deserved. We knew we had a lot more shots than them and were in their zone a lot more, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter unless you score.… Having the goal was nice and it helped to keep us in check to finish the game strong,” Massari said.

Late in the third period, Massari secured a win for the Polar Bears with a shorthanded empty netter to seal the regular season, the weekend sweep and Senior Day. Massari currently leads the league in points per game with a 0.87 average.

“A one-goal lead is a scary and stressful position because at that stage in the game, there’s still a lot of time and it’s just one shot,” Massari said. “Scoring felt good to be able to get the two goal lead and reaffirm we were going to win. It felt good scoring on Senior Day and even better to end the regular season on a high.”

This Saturday, the women’s hockey team will host fifth-seeded Hamilton College (11–11–2; 6–8–2 NESCAC) in the NESCAC quarterfinals at 1 p.m.

With regular season play complete, Massari, one of the six graduating seniors, voiced appreciation for the program and her teammates ahead of the much anticipated playoff game.

“For starters, for Sally [Solotaroff-Webber ’25] to have a shut out on Senior Day is awesome, and for all the seniors we’ve had from different spots and roles on the team to be able to create a season like this and to end it off on this is awesome,” Massari said.