After two NCAA DIII Field Hockey Championship victories this weekend on their home field, the top-ranked Polar Bears (20-0) advanced to the national semifinals, where they will play Ursinus College tomorrow at 11 a.m. at host site Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
In Saturday afternoon’s Sweet Sixteen matchup, Bowdoin took down Keene State by a 5-1 score. It was the the second time in program history that the Bears defeated the Owls in the NCAA tournament, the first being in 2011.
Junior Kimmy Ganong’s goal off a rebound six minutes into the game gave Bowdoin an early lead. However, just four minutes later, the Owls bounced back with a goal of their own. The ball came bouncing into the circle through a pair of defenders and pushed past Clara Belitz ’17.
Keene kept the score even at 1-1 for another 10 minutes by staying strong on the defensive end, denying five shots and successfully defending a pair of corners.
“I was pretty shocked that they answered right away with a shot that dribbled in,” Ganong said. “I think when that happens, we always remember to stay calm and not get worked up and remember that we have the rest of the game left to play.”
Bowdoin finally broke through at the 22:30 mark, as Ganong again found the back of the net, this time off of a broken corner feed from Kelsey Mullaney ’16. Less than two minutes later, Kelsey Bumgardner ’18 sent a rebound to the far left post, finding Liz Znamierowski ’16 for a goal. In the final four minutes of the half, Rachel Kennedy ’16 added a goal of her own, putting the Bears up 4-1 going into halftime
“I think their response was that they were upset that they let that goal in earlier in the game, and they stepped up and responded really well,” Head Coach Nicky Pearson said.
The second half was quieter, except for the final Polar Bears goal 22 minutes in. Kennedy tallied an assist, setting up Sarah Jane Weill ’18 for the shot on goal. Bowdoin outshot the Owls 30-2 on the day and held a 12-1 advantage in penalty corners.
“Although the score was 5-1, which seems like a lot to a little, I think we could have scored a lot more goals because had so many chances.” Ganong said, “You will never know if your first shot is what decides the game, or your last shot. This is why the second half we came out strong, held them out of our defensive end and kept pressuring them.”
The Bears advanced to the quarterfinal round the next day against Wellesley, who had blanked the University of New England 3-0 on Howard Ryan Field the day before. Bowdoin faced a drastic change in the style of play of its opponents.
“Keene is more of a direct team—putting up more aerials and big balls. Wellesley was more of a small passing, game possession-type team,” said Pearson. “It was important that our defense was compact and took away things that the opposition felt comfortable doing. Making these defensive adjustments were critical.”
Kennedy gave the Bears their first goal of the game only four minutes in by successfully converting a penalty stroke—her 100th career goal. Kennedy then scored a second goal towards the end of the first half. Meredith Tibbals ’18 brought the ball inside Wellesley’s defensive 25, where she found Juliana Fiore ’18. Fiore successfully worked her way toward the end line, where she sent a pass to Kennedy at the right post for the goal. The third and final goal of the first half, and the game, came from Ganong with just seconds remaining on the clock.
“Scoring that third goal in the first half with only ten seconds left was huge.” Bumgardner said, “It was a great drive into the circle from [Mullaney] and a perfect deflection into the top left corner from Kimmy.”
Wellesley’s goal keeper, Lucy Hurlock, shut out the Polar Bears in the second half, denying ten shots and six corners. But the game had been decided in the first half, and Bowdoin emerged with a 3-0 win and a bid into the national semifinal.
We needed to want it more and we did. Both teams were fighting for their seasons and this win was a trip to the Final Four,” said Bumgardner.
Ursinus got its ticket to the semifinals with a 5-0 win over Rochester in the round of eight. If the Polar Bears advance, they will meet the winner of Middlebury—Bowdoin’s foremost NESCAC rival—versus The College of New Jersey—the team that defeated the Polar Bears in last year’s national championship game.
“I definitely feel so confident with this team. Just from the past few weekends, finishing off the regular season undefeated, winning NESCACS, and playing our first rounds of NCAAs so well, I really feel that this team is beginning to peak at the perfect time. I don’t have any doubt that we will win,” Ganong said, “We are going into this weekend and we want to come out 2-0 with a national championship and I definitely think we can do it.”