Courtesy of Brian Beard

On Saturday, the field hockey team (12–3; 7–3 NESCAC) secured a home NESCAC quarterfinal game, beating Connecticut College (6–9; 1–9 NESCAC) 2–1 in Connecticut. The Polar Bears are currently ranked sixth in the country and earned the third seed in the eight-team NESCAC tournament.

The game didn’t start as planned for the Polar Bears, with the Camels scoring a goal just 36 seconds after the opening center pass. Head Coach Nicky Pearson noted her upbeat tone and words of encouragement for the team after the early setback.

“I think the important message there [was] just stick with our plan and stick together,” Pearson said. “And don’t go off track because we still believed that we could come back and win the game.”

Midfielder Maddie Mrva ’27 took Pearson’s coaching to heart, adding how the team then saw the obstacle as a learning opportunity.

“I think it was a wake-up call for us. I don’t think it reflected how we played the rest of the game,” Mrva said. “So, it’s a good lesson for us for future games that we have to start off strong and we can’t let that happen in the beginning.”

In the 1–0 hole, the team went on the offensive, leading the Camels in shots after the first half. The Polar Bears didn’t let up the pressure even as the third quarter started, scoring just six minutes into the second half. After Clara Noyes ’27 shot off an Ella Davies ’28 penalty corner entry and it went null, Davies had another entry: Mrva, whose initial shot was blocked, followed it up, getting the ball in the back of the goal.

“I just looked up and was like, ‘I’m going shoot it on her’ on the near side post because I knew that she was coming out pretty far [from the goal],” Mrva said. “It was a bouncy ball, so I had to settle and then push harder than I’m used to just because of the surface.”

Scoring multiple goals in quick succession has been a team-wide trend this year, led by Charlotte Crawford ’28, who scored her fourth goal of the season just two minutes after Mrva’s to put the Polar Bears up 2–1.

“When one happens, it shows us that we can do it and we can score … [and] gives us that confidence to make that final pass be really good and that final shot be really good,” Mrva said. “I think [we] need to figure out how to make that happen earlier and earlier in games so that we can take that momentum throughout the entire game.”

Despite not scoring again, the Polar Bears didn’t let up their dominance on the field. The defense allowed only three Camel shots in the second half to seal the victory, with Eva Filipponi ’28 making three saves in net on the day.

On Tuesday night, the Polar Bears traveled to Medford, Mass. to take on Tufts University (15–0; 10–0 NESCAC), losing the defensive battle 1–0. The first half was back and forth, with Filipponi making five saves. The Polar Bears had some good offensive chances in the third quarter when Hannah Balmelli ’28 and Emily Ferguson ’27 took shots that the Jumbos’ goalkeeper saved. Early in the fourth quarter, Tufts scored the game’s lone goal, despite the Polar Bears’ best offensive efforts in the closing minutes.

“I thought we played really well,” Pearson said. “We wanted to limit their offensive opportunities and limit their corners, and I think on the whole, the team did a good job on that.”

The team will host Wesleyan University (10–5; 5–5 NESCAC) tomorrow at noon on Ryan Field. The Polar Bears defeated the Cardinals 2–1 early in the regular season, and will be playing with a home crowd full of family, friends and the Bowdoin community as a whole.

“They’re a good team, and I think it’ll be a really good competition…. There’s a lot of equal teams playing against each other, so it’s hard, but that’s what makes it fun,” Mrva said. “We will play as competitively as possible, and we know that we can win, and we just need to play how we’ve been playing as a team. Our culture really shows through on the field, and I think we can just bring that into the postseason.”