With two weeks to go before the NESCAC playoffs, the men's soccer team has finally turned into the team that everyone expected them to be at the outset of the season. After a tough start to the 2008 campaign, the Polar Bears have set a torrid pace of success throughout the second half of the season.
The Bears continued this success on Saturday against Trinity, beating the Bantams 2-1, in front of a host of alums who on campus to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the men's soccer program at Bowdoin College.
The game exuded caution and apprehension throughout the first half. Everyone on the field appeared unwilling to take a chance for fear of making a costly mistake that might drop his team in the suffocating NESCAC conference. This tentative play continued until the 52nd minute when Trinity finally scored a goal that would ultimately act as a wake-up call to the Bowdoin squad.
The Bowdoin offense scored less than a minute later off a brilliant connection between two attackers, Brendan Mooney '09 and Nick Powell '12. Powell latched onto a vicious feed from Mooney to equalize the game and give the home crowd something to cheer for. Mooney continued his recent impression of Thierry Henry seven minutes later, as he took a pass from Carl Woock '10 and scored the game winner on a spectacular individual move. Mooney managed to control the pass from Woock, flick it up on his right foot and then hammer it into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
"No one on the field could believe the goal Brendan scored, it was as if he was possessed," co-captain Dominic Fitzpatrick '09 said.
Mooney's goal locked up a 2-1 victory and ensured that the Polar Bears would finish the day in sole possession of third place in the NESCAC conference.
From here on out, the final few games are all about jockeying for position before the playoffs.
"The NESCAC is completely wide open right now; a win or a loss could potentially move teams anywhere from first to eighth in the conference," Fitzpatrick said.
This makes it that much more important that the Polar Bears extend their impressive four-game win streak against bitter NESCAC rival Colby. The game will be played on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Waterville, Maine.
The Bears will not have much time to recover as they travel to Boston to face a tough Babson team on Sunday. The next 72 hours could make or break the season for the Polar Bears. As Christopher Hickey '09 explained, "This weekend is crucial, we have to give it everything we have".