Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last weekend, Bowdoin field hockey (11–2; 6–2 NESCAC) faced a double-header weekend against Hamilton College (10–4; 5–4 4 NESCAC) and Colby College (7–6; 2–6 NESCAC). No. 5 Hamilton College was one of the more challenging opponents of the season, but the now No. 3 Polar Bears secured a 1–0 win with the game’s lone goal scored by Allie Straub ’28 less than five minutes into the third quarter. The following day, the Polar Bears faced No. 9 Colby College, where they went into double overtime before Clara Noyes ’27 scored the winning goal for Bowdoin in the last three minutes.

In preparation for this high-stakes, double-header weekend, players, such as Goaltender Eva Filipponi ’28, focused on training individually and as a group.

“We really focus on ourselves as a team … and how we can best prepare ourselves,” Filipponi said. “Especially knowing that it’s two games back-to-back, you have to be really ready physically to endure two games in a row.”

All of the team meetings, practices and film review paid off against Hamilton. Stingy defense on both sides allowed for only five shots per team, with all five of Bowdoin’s on the net. Head Coach Nicky Pearson noted that strong defense was crucial in this matchup.

“Our team defense was excellent, and we limited Hamilton to very few opportunities, [and] very few offensive corners,” Pearson said. “Obviously finding that goal, that was terrific … but it definitely was a defensive battle between two ranked teams.”

To make the win against Hamilton even more special, the Polar Bears were also celebrating senior day. Straub’s goal was a gift she could give to her senior teammates.

“These seniors, they mean so much to me,” Straub said. “They deserve the world, and I unfortunately can’t give it to them. But I can make sure they get a win on senior day. We always enter each game saying this is the most important game of the season, and we got to play for each other.”

A lot of preparation, care and thought go into honoring the seniors and their dedication to the team. Last Friday night the first years, sophomores and juniors collaborated to decorate their locker room and write notes to the seniors.

On Sunday, the Polar Bears played fiercely against Colby, an intense rival. This game resulted in the first double overtime of the season and required a large team effort to pull off the win.

“Our defense was not as solid as it had been the day before. But full credit to the team … they reacted well after we had gone down by the goal, and they found a way to win the game in overtime,” Pearson said. “In regards to overcoming adversity and digging deep and finding a way to win, those were certainly highlights from the Colby game.”

From a player perspective, going the extra mile and garnering support from the team proved essential to getting the job done on the field. When it came down to a barrage of shots on goal in overtime, Filipponi mentions how her team was there to support her.

“I needed all the help I could get, and my team was there for me. And then finishing it off with [Noyes] perfectly placing a goal was the best thing ever, and [we] definitely needed that game to end,” Filipponi said.

Meanwhile, Filipponi’s teammates were very grateful for her work in goal as overtime stretched on. Filipponi set a career high of 13 saves in goal.

“Eva’s set of saves in OT against Colby [stood out],” Noyes wrote in an email to the Orient. “She just kept fighting when a lot of us were drained, and we couldn’t have won without her. Scoring the winning goal was really exciting, but I was honestly just so happy for the team since we achieved the goal we set for ourselves going into the weekend, which was to go 2 and 0.”

Right now, the players are hopeful looking ahead to the rest of the season. Ideally, they hope to keep up the momentum to win out the season and win a NESCAC championship.

“There’s so much buzz around Tufts and Middlebury always because they are great teams, but it’s pretty cool to have this little, sneaky underdog mentality of coming in and beating teams that you shouldn’t be able to beat, so I think upsetting teams in the future would be super cool,” Filipponi said.

The Polar Bears have two games to go against two NESCAC rivals to cap off the regular season. They continue competing tomorrow against Connecticut College (6–7; 1–7 NESCAC) in Hartford, Conn. at 11 a.m., and face Tufts University (13–0; 8–0 NESCAC) in Medford, Mass. at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.