At the close of a somewhat disappointing season, the Bowdoin Men's Rugby Team is still proud of its improvement.
"We got better every week," said senior co-captain Ryan Devenyi. "We kept improving, and I think if this team now could go back and play a few of the teams we lost to earlier, we might a get a different result."
The forwards especially came into their own toward the end of the season and were able to dominate the Bates and UNH packs.
"In our last few matches, our forwards played as well as any Bowdoin scrum has played," said Head Coach Rick Scala. "They ran with the ball well and they rucked extremely well, enabling us to set up many continuous phases."
This season, the Polar Bears got key contributions from many first- and second-year players.
The Bowdoin B-side finished 4-1-1 on the year, and many of the B-side players saw A-side time in key situations.
First year Ben Messerly started in the back line for Bowdoin, and first-time players Bryce Spalding '10, Ryan Jewett '11, and Matt Eshelman '09 contributed in A-side matches.
After joining the team this year, Paul Dwyer '08 started all six games and was a force for the Bowdoin pack.
"Our young guys are great. Our B-side plays great rugby and is fun to watch every week," said Scala. "All of our young players have made great strides this year. Of course, the improvement they've made wouldn't have been possible without great play and leadership from our four veteran seniors, Sam Kamin, Alex Chittim, and our captains Ryan Devenyi and Mark Fuller."
Bowdoin (1-4-1) finished the season with a scoreless draw at Colby. On a swampy, mud-caked, field the two rival teams battled each other but couldn't find the try zone.
"It was a tough match," said Fuller. "We feel like we should have beaten Colby for the second time this year. We came up short, and they gave us a battle."
While the team will lose five starters to graduation, there's a strong base to go forward from.
"We're sad to see the seniors go," Scala said, "but we're still excited for next year. Each week, we got great contributions from juniors like Jeremy Ross, Jordan Samiljan, Derek Castro, Spencer Ho, Jeremy Bernfeld, Charlie Ash, and Matt Schweich. We'll look to them next year."