Students and parents alike, clear your schedule this weekend. After all the turmoil in the 2008 men's soccer season, the team could have home field advantage in the NESCAC playoffs. Maybe.
The Polar Bears are in a critical situation. If they manage to beat Tufts this afternoon here in Brunswick, fourth place or better and home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs will fall into their hands.
If the men lose, they will almost definitely be sent packing to either Middlebury (who are the defending national champions) or Trinity. It's hard to imagine the last time the last game of the season had this much significance for the men's soccer team.
The Bears have a 4-1 record at home, compared to their 2-5 record on the road.
"The NESCAC conference has never been as wide open as it is now, we need to win to stay alive," Chris Hickey '09 said.
Unfortunately, the Polar Bears enter this final weekend on the heels of a deflating span of back to back losses.
Head Coach Fran O'Leary will undoubtedly be looking to make a couple of changes to find the right formula, before the post season kicks off on Sunday afternoon.
Bowdoin suffered through a humiliating weekend with back-to-back losses to Colby and Babson last Saturday and Sunday.
The 3-1 loss to the Mules marked the first time Bowdoin has lost to its NESCAC arch nemesis since 1996, ending a span of 11 consecutive wins for the Bears.
Bowdoin was unable to convert on a 17-11 shot advantage.
"It was tough from the very beginning because we got ourselves in a 0-2 hole early. We did a good job trying to bring it back but ultimately we just didn't have enough time," co-captain Dominic Fitzpatrick '09 said.
Ben Denton-Schneider '11 scored the lone goal for the Polar Bears off an assist from Eddie Jones '12.
Bowdoin returned home tired and with only a couple of hours to rest up before they left for Boston early Sunday morning to square off against a tough Babson team.
Sunday's 2-1 loss was competitive from whistle to whistle, but again, Bowdoin was unable reap the benefits of a distinct shot advantage. Jones, the bright spot in an otherwise gloomy weekend for the Polar Bears, scored the lone goal off a perfect through ball from David Shaeffer '11.
Throughout the 48-hour, two-game losing streak, the Polar Bears were only able to score two goals from 28 shots while opponents managed to make five goals off of 18 shots.
The Bears will need to figure this discrepancy out and improve on it if they want to make a strong push in the playoffs. The Bears kick off the crucial home game against Tufts at 2 p.m. today.