The Bowdoin Men's Soccer Team won its third contest in a row Sunday, ending the mini-slump in which the Bears had been mired.
In the space of seven days Bowdoin was able to take down two of Division III's most talented teams, Wheaton and Babson.
All of this was made possible by the impressive play of the team's upperclassmen, in particular seniors Nick Figueiredo and Nate Lovitz, both of whom managed to break College records this week.
Figueiredo set the all-time scoring mark for the College early in the second half of a scoreless deadlock against Babson on Sunday.
He was able to get his head on a beautiful cross from Tim Prior '11 to score the historic goal and grant the Polar Bears a lead.
The goal broke a 35-year old record that was previously held by Gima Asmerom '73, David Bulow '02, and Andrew Russo '06.
"[I attribute my success to my] teammates for their support throughout my four years here," Figueiredo said, " and [I] thank them for their hard work, because I know I could not have done it without them."
The record was not enough, however, for the prolific goal scorer, who also leads the NESCAC in scoring this season.
In the 68th minute he played a glorious piece of one-two soccer with midfielder Micha Grueber '08, who put away his fourth goal of the year.
The two senior leaders teamed up again to help Alex Hirshberg '10 score his first career goal for the Polar Bears two minutes later to cement the 3-0 victory over the Beavers.
Figueiredo called this "the best performance of the season" and added how "proud he was of the boys" after the game.
Lovitz was able to record his 21st career shutout, a new College record, by making three fine saves in the game.
The victory was particularly impressive considering that the Polar Bears had just come from beating Trinity in Hartford less than 24 hours before their showdown with Babson.
Again, the combination of Grueber-Figueiredo worked its magic to ensure that the Bears would go home with the maximum two points against a tough conference opponent.
Grueber scored the opener in the 25th minute to put the visiting Polar Bears on top.
Figueiredo notched the game winner in the 85th minute off another impressive assist from Tim Prior '11 to make sure everyone would be happy on the bus going back to Brunswick.
Momentum is building just in time for the Polar Bears as the first round of the playoffs begins this weekend.
Before the men hope to do any damage in the postseason, they will have to focus on Saturday's crucial conference showdown with another streaking NESCAC team, Wesleyan.
Saturday's 1:30 p.m. kickoff will feature the NESCAC's fourth and fifth-place teams.
Barring a Trinity (4-4 NESCAC) upset over Middlebury (7-1 NESCAC), Bowdoin and Wesleyan will play each other again the next day in the first round of the playoffs, with the winner of Saturday's match gaining home field advantage.