Walk through the practice fields of the Bowdoin Men's Soccer Team at Farley and you might think that you accidentally stumbled upon the training facility of the New England Revolution. The level of talent, poise, and commitment that this season's squad has exhibited so far this preseason could combine to trick you into believing that you are in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The sooner that you realize that the players in front of you are, in fact, your very own Polar Bears, the sooner you will begin to feel sorry for the rest of the NESCAC league.
Returning offensive powerhouse Nick Figueiredo '08 agreed. "I'm feeling extremely confident about this year's team," he said, "and although it is not the most skilled team we have fielded in my four years, we look to be the best collective unit," he said.
The concept of the collective unit is the biggest reason for such high hopes for this year's team. The squad will be led by at least one comforting face in each line this season. The Polar Bears have one of the most talented backlines in the business, boasting goalkeeper Nathan Lovitz '08 and central defender Dominic Fitzpatrick '09 in front of their net.
Wolf Greuber '08 will lead an otherwise young and inexperienced midfield, whose success in getting the ball to the strikers is especially important when you consider the plethora of talent that the team possesses in First-Team All-NESCAC dynamos Figueiredo and captain Brendan Egan '08, newly converted from defense.
Figueiredo returns up front with a legitimate shot at becoming Bowdoin's all-time leading scorer by the end of the season. The combination of pace and skill with strikers Egan and Figueiredo, or "Shake and Bake," as the rest of the Bowdoin community likes to call them, could potentially become the most explosive partnership in the history of Bowdoin soccer by season's end.
According to Fitzpatrick, Coach Fran O'Leary should be credited with the decision.
"No one expected Egan to go alongside Nick in attack, but so far it looks like a genius move," he said.
Unlike years past, the Bears will depend on a fair amount of inexperienced first years and sophomores to help them in this season's campaign. Normally, this would present a problem for the team but with the help of veterans in all parts of the field, Figueiredo said the "freshmen and sophomores have done a great job at stepping up and filling some important roles that we lost from last year."
The overall depth and talent of this year's squad was on full display earlier this week as the team comprehensively took down the University of Cork, visiting from Ireland, with a score of 7-0. The team will look to maximize its potential in the first real test of the season as it travels to Bates on Saturday. They then return home for a Sunday match up against Husson College, a talented non-conference team. Egan explained the feeling about tomorrow's battle. "We know Bates is going to be a tough opponent, but we are excited for the challenge," he said. "We're definitely hoping to start off on the right foot and start quickly."