The Bowdoin Men's Soccer Team will go into this weekend's crucial match up against NESCAC powerhouse Williams flying higher than anyone could have imagined. The men are firing on all cylinders early in the season with three consecutive wins behind them.
Captain Brendan Egan '08 emphasized just how impressive the team's effort has been.
"Our strikers are in sync, our midfielders are controlling the pace of the game, our defense has been working well together and Nathan Lovitz ['08] has been awesome in goal."
The Polar Bears won their second contest of the year with a hard-fought win against Colby in Waterville.
Forward Nick Figueiredo '08 said that the 2-0 victory was closer than the score indicated.
"Colby came out flying and never really let up throughout the game, which made it incredibly difficult for us to play," he said.
Colby was especially dangerous in the first half as Lovitz was forced to stop three shots en route to a four-shot shutout.
Bowdoin, the 12th-ranked team in Division III Men's Soccer, followed one impressive victory with an even more stunning one against Southern Maine two days later. Figueiredo led a potent attack with two goals, while Hugh Fleming '10 did his best impersonation of the team's top scorer with two goals of his own.
Figueiredo attributed this early success to the work of Egan and his fellow battery mates in the backline.
"Undoubtedly the biggest factor in our two wins was the work of the back five," he said. "They are the stingiest and hardest-working defense I've ever played against."
The men have passed their first two road tests with flying colors, but the most important, a cumulative exam at Williams, will be this weekend. The Polar Bears will compete against the only other NESCAC team in the top 25 for DIII soccer (Williams is ranked sixth), on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"They're obviously a great team and we're going to have to bring our best to come out with a result, but we're definitely looking forward to the challenge," said Egan.