The men's lacrosse team heads into its meeting with league-leading Tufts with momentum and a winning mentality on Saturday. The Polar Bears ripped off two wins this week and shook off a three-game losing streak.
Bowdoin improved to 5-4 on the season with a much-needed win over Springfield College on Wednesday night at North Andover High School in Massachusetts.
"It feels great to finally play like we are capable of playing and come out on top with the victory," said senior quad-captain Dave Donahue. "We knew we had it in us and it was just a matter of us having the confidence to play well for four quarters."
The Polar Bears jumped out to a 5-1 first-quarter lead, and eventually scored a season-high 12 goals, cruising to an easy 12-6 win over a hungry Springfield team. Senior quad-captain Kevin Mullins had three points for Bowdoin, scoring twice and notching one assist. Senior Alex Weaver and junior Thadd Welch also tallied two goals each.
"The offense did a great job of possessing the ball and keeping pressure on the Springfield defense and out of the defensive zone," Donahue said. "As long as Springfield didn't have the ball, they couldn't score."
On Saturday the team picked up a crucial NESCAC win, improving to 2-2 within the conference, behind stellar play from Mullins. Mullins was all over the field, scoring a career-high four goals, while also notching two assists in the 9-7 Polar Bear win.
"It feels great to break our losing streak," said Mullins. "Going into Saturday's game the team lacked confidence. More important than winning the game, we showed that when we play together as a team, focus on running our systems, and play fundamentally sound lacrosse, we can beat any team in the league."
For his stellar performance in the win over Trinity, Mullins was named both the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association and NESCAC Men's Lacrosse player of the week. Mullins is currently second on the team with 16 points.
The Polar Bears challenge Tufts in a game vital to Bowdoin's success on Saturday. The Jumbos (8-1, 4-0) are currently ranked sixth in the latest laxpower.com national poll and are flying high after a 12-10 win over No. 20 Endicott.
"Tufts is one of the most important games of the year," Mullins said. "Tufts is undefeated in NESCAC play and have been playing with a lot of confidence."
Bowdoin will face a tough uphill struggle tomorrow and the defense will have its plate full trying to guard sophomore attackman Clem McNally and senior attackman Mark Warner. The terrific duo lead the team with a whopping 28 points each on the season, and are two of the top players in the NESCAC.
The game is set to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Ryan Field. After winning their last two games the Polar Bears are confident that the team can bring home a win and put themselves among the NESCAC elite.
"The win streak feels good," said Donahue. "It just feels good to put two solid games together going into one of our toughest games of the year...I would say that the two wins have given us some confidence in ourselves that I think we have been missing up until this point."