The men's rugby team suffered a 26-5 loss at the hands of the University of Maine-Farmington on Saturday, but still has high hopes for the season.
"We got the game we expected," Coach Rick Scala said. "It was very scrappy and physical, but there were some bright spots."
Junior Sam Kamin scored Bowdoin's only try, and senior Dan Campbell was "stalwart" for the Bowdoin pack, said Scala.
"We had some great runs by our centers and wings," senior captain Dan Jaffe said, "some great tackles and rucks by our forwards, and some smart kicks by our full-back. A few daunting mistakes caused us some real serious problems."
Last season, Bowdoin handily defeated Farmington, but this year's match-up featured a much better Farmington squad.
The Black Pack hopes to get back over .500 with a win against rival Bates this Saturday at home.
"We need to keep our heads up and stay focused on the goal: to be the Maine State Champions," said Jaffe. "We need to get our intensity up 100-fold from last week to beat our ever-resilient rivals."
In last year's game, Bowdoin barely got the win against Bates, and only managed the win thanks to some strong back play in the final minutes of a very tight match. Bates (0-1-1) comes to Brunswick this weekend looking to move ahead of Bowdoin (1-1-0) and Colby (1-0-1) in the race for the Bates-Bowdoin-Colby Cup.
"Coming in full-tilt right from the beginning, putting Bates on their back foot from the start, and not making simple mental mistakes is what will win us this game," Jaffe said. "We have the skills, the conditioning, and the desire to win, and when those three things come together on the field it will be something special to see."