At the beginning of each season, Bowdoin field hockey tradition requires that each team member state a goal for herself and the team. The overwhelming response among this year's Polar Bears was that they wanted to win the NCAA championship.
On Nov. 17, the dream came true.
In front of a crowd of 450 at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., the team defeated the Middlebury Panthers 4-3 to take home Bowdoin's first NCAA championship trophy in school history. Junior forward Lindsay McNamara contributed three goals, while NESCAC Rookie of the Year Ingrid Oelschlager '11 scored the fourth.
The only other time a Bowdoin team made an NCAA final was in March 2004, when the women's basketball team lost to Wilmington College.
McNamara scored the first goal of the game, deflecting a Julia King '09 shot into the net in the fourth minute. But Middlebury tied the game in the 22nd minute, and the Panthers pulled ahead just a minute later, marking the first time all season that the Bears trailed in a game.
The deficit would not last long, as a 25th-minute McNamara penalty shot tied the game.
At halftime, Coach Nicky Pearson told the team that Bowdoin did not come this far to return home empty-handed.
"Nicky told us that one team wasn't going home with the national championship, and it wasn't us," McNamara said.
In the 44th minute, McNamara completed her hat trick, and the Polar Bears never looked back. A 52nd-minute goal from Oelschlager gave Bowdoin a 4-2 lead. Middlebury wasn't done yet, however, and the Panthers narrowed the gap with a goal at 56:38, giving Middlebury fewer than 14 minutes to even the score.
The Polar Bear defense held on, giving Bowdoin its first NCAA championship in any sport.
"Watching the clock run out during the final minutes of the championship game against Middlebury, we all knew that we had done it," said senior tri-captain Meaghan Maguire. "That feeling of unbelievable accomplishment that wouldn't have been possible without the 20 girls standing beside you is something I will never forget."
McNamara, Mercer, Oelschlager and defender and tri-captain Val Young '08 were each named to the All-Tournament Team.
McNamara's nine goals scored in the four tournament games gave her the tournament record, but she also broke several Bowdoin records this year, including the marks for goals in both a season (27) and career (60).
Heather Hawes '00 previously shared the season record with Sheila Carroll '90 and Marissa O'Neil '05 at 19.
"It's impressive and will be a tough record to beat," Hawes said of McNamara's achievement.
In 1997, Hawes was part of the first Bowdoin Field Hockey Team to make the NCAA tournament, and she was a tri-captain of the 1999 team, which also made the tournament.
"I loved my field hockey team and our experience was unbelievable—we were proud in '99 just to have qualified for the NCAAs," Hawes said. "This NCAA title brings the program to a whole new level."
Margaret Gormley '06 was a tri-captain on the first Bowdoin field hockey team to make the NCAA Final Four. The 2005 team's only loss came to Messiah College in the NCAA semifinals.
"Watching the team this year throughout their championship run was very reminiscent of my senior year for me," Gormley said. "The determination it takes to have a perfect regular season is truly remarkable and special to find in a team, where so many people have to work together to achieve this type of success."
Gormley, whose sister Kate is a junior on this year's team, attended every one of this year's playoff games.
"The number of field hockey alumnae who attend the games throughout the season is extraordinary, and the fan base present at the national championship this year far outweighed that of any of the other competing schools," Gormley said. "When a team supports each other like this one does and has such strong support from their past teammates, parents and peers, it is easy to see how success is inevitable."
Bowdoin also lost to Messiah in the NCAA semifinals in 2006, finishing the season with a 17-2 mark. Bowdoin won the NESCAC championship both years, as well as in 2007.
McNamara, who is featured in this week's Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd," played down her accomplishments, deflecting credit to the team.
"A lot of records were broken, and generally a lot of hype surrounds the statistic element of the game," she said. "However, I think our whole team would agree that playing well together and winning the national championship were the greatest accomplishments of our season."
Julia King broke the single-season assist record, with 21 assists on the season, and tied O'Neil's career assists record of 31.
The National Field Hockey Coaches Association named both King and McNamara First-Team All-Americans.
Though the offense got the statistical recognition, Bowdoin's defense was as much to credit for the Bears' success, giving up only six goals on 107 shots this season. For comparison, Bowdoin's offense scored 76 goals on 442 shots.
The Bears did not give up a single goal in the month of September, working through the first eight games outscoring their opponents 28-0.
The team gave up its first goal of the season to Tufts on October 6, in a 2-1 victory in Medford, Mass.
Mercer said that she did not think about the possibility of a scoreless season.
"You don't go a whole season without giving up a goal," Mercer said.
The team would not give up a goal again until Nov. 3's NESCAC semifinal 2-1 victory over Williams. Bowdoin gave up another goal in its 3-1 defeat of Middlebury the next day in the NESCAC final.
Bowdoin held its opponents scoreless through its first three NCAA tournament games, but the three goals the Bears gave up to Middlebury in the final doubled the rest of the season's total.
Nevertheless, Mercer pointed to that game as the high point of the season for her, calling the NCAA final "one of the best games Division III has ever seen."
Coach Pearson explained the team's success by pointing toward the team's three captains.
"It's not just the talent—there are so many other pieces of the pie," Pearson said. "That includes great leadership and team dynamics."
Young said the team's success has been years in the making.
"Much of our success comes from our ability to build off of the previous season, and also because we've created an atmosphere where everyone on the team works hard for one another and supports one another," Young said. "The bond that our team formed was crucial to our success on the field."
After the Bears won the championship game, Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster sent a campus-wide e-mail (excluding the members of the field hockey team) with the subject "Surprise our National Champions at midnight." In it, he suggested that students meet the team when it returned to Farley Field House that night.
When the bus arrived shortly before 1 a.m., more than 200 students, including the Polar Pep Band, were there to greet the team.
Though Foster intended the celebration to be a surprise, text messages from friends asking exactly when the players would be back on campus gave away the campus's intention.
"We did know," Mercer admitted.
With only three seniors graduating, the Bears are likely to be favorites to win the championship next year as well.
There is "so much potential for next year," Mercer said.
"Our expectations will be high for next season," McNamara said.
Two years ago, only one player foresaw the success of Bowdoin field hockey. In 2005's pre-season goal statements, then-junior Taryn King '07 set her sights higher than any other Polar Bear.
"Taryn King was the only member of our team who dared to look to another level, and state her goal for the team as winning the NCAA national championship," Gormley said. "In retrospect, that mentality came to be held by every single member of our team."
King died of septicemia in January 2006 while studying abroad in Ireland.
"Everyone tends to have a pretty tangible goal or specific skill they want to improve, but I will never forget Taryn King's answer," said senior tri-captain Hillary Hoffman. "It was just so beyond everyone else's scope. ... I personally used that memory as motivation for the duration of my field hockey career."