The Bowdoin women's soccer team got off to a strong start last weekend, going 1-0-1 in its first two games of the season.
Coming off an historical 2007 season, which culminated in their first-ever NESCAC championship game, Saturday's game against Bridgewater State left little doubt as to whether this year's squad was up to last year's caliber.
The Polar Bears began their 4-0 route of the Bridgewater Bears early in the match. In the 15th minute, first year Ellery Gould netted a pass from sophomore Katherine Farrar.
The Bears continued to pelt the Bridgewater goalie with shots throughout the first half, as Bowdoin's well-crafted passes and superior ball play resulted in opportunity after opportunity.
The squad continued their dominance in the second half, flexing its offensive muscle.
The first goal of the second half came rocketing off the foot of Alex von Gerichten '09 from 20 yards out, landing into the left corner of the net.
The Bowdoin women kept pounding shot after shot with several good opportunities from Gould, who had a skilful flick that just missed in the 74th minute.
Rebecca Silva '11 and Christina Aceto '11 also delivered several strong volleys that nearly resulted in scores.
The third goal came unassisted from Dana Riker '10, and the fourth was put in by first year Celeste Swain with 13 minutes remaining in the game.
"We possessed the ball really well, had a high speed of play," Aceto said. "We did a good job of attacking [Bridgewater's] weaknesses, and we finished, something we could not do against Babson."
Despite a four-goal lead in the closing minutes of the game, the Polar Bears continued to attack, launching shot after shot at the Bridgewater goalie.
Sunday proved to be a more difficult contest for the Polar Bears, as the squad took on the Babson College Beavers.
The first half ended scoreless, an apparent stalemate.
"During the first half, we were really disconnected, we couldn't complete passes and our shape as a team wasn't there," Tiernan Cutler '11 said. "Our fire wasn't there. Maren gave us a talk at half-time, she reminded us we wanted to send people a message in the NESCAC."
The beginning of the second half, however, unsettled the Polar Bears as Babson came out strong, slotting a ball into the corner of the goal in the 60th minute.
Facing a 1-0 deficit, Bowdoin continued to fight until Silva exploited a scramble at the top of the 18-yard box and whipped off a quick shot that screamed past the Babson keeper with only 12 minutes to play.
Shortly after Silva's goal, Molly Duffy '11 broke away in a two-on-one situation against the Babson goalie, but the ball was scooped up by the Beaver's goalie and Duffy could not get a shot off.
The Beavers and Bears continued their struggle through double overtime, but the score remained tied as the clock expired.
"I don't think anyone felt content with the tie, we had a lot of prime opportunities in the second half and overtime, and we felt like we should have put one away," Aceto said.
On Saturday, the team will begin NESCAC play in Connecticut against Wesleyan University.
"We're pretty happy so far and we're excited for Wesleyan this weekend," said Cutler.