Reality set in very quickly for the men's soccer team after its two astonishing wins over Amherst and Middlebury a couple of weeks ago.
Those two wins gave the team a sense of invincibility, but Tufts did its best to bring the men back down to earth with a 5-0 trouncing at Farley Fields. The perennial NESCAC cellar-dwellers did their best impersonation of a powerhouse for the day as the Jumbos dominated the Polar Bears in every aspect of the game right from the opening whistle.
Captain Brendan Egan '08 described the aftermath.
"It was a feeling of total astonishment and embarrassment," he said. "Tufts definitely deserved to win that day. They played very well and caught us on a day that we were unfortunately very flat."
Fortunately for Bowdoin, the loss did not come in the NESCAC playoffs, which means that the team has a chance to redeem itself every time it takes the pitch from here on out. The three games since the defeat, all solid 2-0 victories, have vaulted the Polar Bears in the right direction.
"I think the victories were excellent team results," said Egan, "and we have done a good job of separating ourselves from the Tufts game."
The three-game win streak indicates that the only fallout from the loss has been a healthy, rigid determination to play as hard as possible for a full 90 minutes. The run started with a 2-0 thumping over Gordon College, where the Polar Bears racked up more than three times as many shots on goal as their opponents.
The team used second-half goals from Egan and Nick Figueiredo '08 to get the unsavory taste of the Tufts match out of its mouth. Against Connecticut College, Justin Ito-Adler '08 put Bowdoin on the board in the team's 2-0 victory, and Figueiredo sealed the deal with another second-half strike.
Bowdoin's most recent victory, a tightly contested 2-0 shutout over a powerful Wheaton side, showcased the Bears' most impressive performance since prior to the Tufts debacle.
Wheaton entered the game 10th in New England, according to the National Soccer Coaches of America poll, and a gaudy 32-4 home record that dates back several seasons. But this did not intimidate Bowdoin.
The Polar Bears used an impressive burst of offense in a six-minute span to open and close the scoring against their opponents. First-year Tom Wakefield opened his collegiate goal scoring account in the 75th minute and Figueiredo continued his convincing impression of Red Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon with a goal in the 81st minute.
Bowdoin's net-minder Nathan Lovitz '08 was also a force in all three victories as he amassed 11 saves in the back-to-back-to-back shutouts to push his season total to eight.
"We've played good team defense, worked the ball around well, and scored some great goals," said Egan. "We can't just say big things like we want a NESCAC championship or we want to make a run through the NCAAs without being willing to go through the hard work that it takes to achieve those goals."
Homecoming Weekend will be crucial for the Polar Bears as they start the weekend with an important matchup with NESCAC rival Trinity at home on Saturday at noon. The team will then travel to face Babson on Sunday as the Bears continue their journey to the NESCAC playoffs.