Courtesy of Brian Beard

After countless practices and hard-fought games, the men’s soccer team’s regular season has come to a close. Just a week ago, the Polar Bears delivered a 1–0 victory against Amherst College (8–4–3; 4–4–2 NESCAC), continuing the team’s five-game win streak.

Both teams struggled to generate successful attacking chances in the first half. The Polar Bear defensive line, featuring Keito Ishibashi ’27, Jack Banks ’27, Liam Meyers ’28 and Paul Surkov ’26, held firm and kept the opposition to a mere single shot in the first 45 minutes of play.

It was not until the 68th minute that the Polar Bears finally broke through and found the back of the net.

After an under-hit pass from Amherst’s center back out wide, Tyler Huck ’26 stepped up quickly, intercepted the pass and launched Bowdoin’s counterattack. Kamar Burris-Khan ’27 then found a small seam of opening between the defender who was tracking Huck and the centerback guarding him. Burris-Khan drew the other center back just by the box and found first-year Max Cook ’29 on an island with no defender in sight. Cook then buried the shot and lifted the team to a 1–0 lead with his first collegiate goal.

Cook emphasized that the goal not only gave the players a sense of relief but also energized them to close out the game.

“Scoring definitely gave us a little bit of a breath and a second to collect ourselves and get our focus back,” Cook said. “The entire team was hyped. That feeling of scoring, especially against Amherst, who we have trouble against year in and year out, was just out of this world.”

Burris-Khan commended the energy and the team’s first years, acknowledging the depth and firepower they contribute to the squad.

“Overall, they’re a great class with lots of talent and have added value to our team immediately,” Burris-Khan said. “They’ve done a great job molding into the team.”

By the numbers, both sides recorded six shots and two shots on goal, and Polar Bear goalkeeper Alex Ainsworth ’26 netted his fifth shutout of the season.

Head Coach Scott Wiercinski emphasized the team’s confidence and composure in securing a win for the Polar Bears.

“Obviously, winning is great and the competitive goal for the day, but I was really impressed and satisfied with our emotional control,” Wiercinski said. “I thought we just played where we didn’t get caught up in any of the frustration of a referee decision or play that didn’t go well. They just played the next moment, the next challenge, the next pass, all with decisiveness.”

On Tuesday night, the Polar Bears had a new challenge at hand: Tufts University (11–1–3; 6–1–3 NESCAC), currently ranked No. 1 nationally.

Although Bowdoin held a 13–9 lead in shots, a 5–2 edge in shots on goal and a 5–4 advantage in corner kicks, neither team broke the stalemate, and the score remained 0–0.

Wiercinski remained proud of his team and highlighted that regardless of the results, the game provided valuable takeaways for the postseason.

“We really wanted to continue to do the things the way we did so far. This result is more about the quality of performance and the execution of our tactics, so it was more about going out and playing well. I think our guys really did that, and that’s momentum we can take into this next game,” Wiercinski said.

The Polar Bears enter the NESCAC tournament seeded third and will play sixth-seeded Middlebury College (8–4–2; 4–4–2 NESCAC) tomorrow at noon.

“We just need to keep going,” Wiercinski said. “We’ve really concentrated on getting better every day this season, and if we concentrate on being better today than we were yesterday and on, we’ll be in good shape.”