This past week's field hockey action featured both a regular-season heartbreaker and a decisive postseason victory.
The field hockey team fell short in its game against Tufts, losing the right to host the NESCAC Championships. However, the team's first-round victory over Bates in the NESCAC tournament was critical to jump-starting the team's postseason journey.
The Polar Bears came out strong for their NESCAC quarterfinal game against Bates last Sunday. Kara Kelley '10 drove a shot into the back of the cage off a penalty corner from Leah Ferenc '09 and Kristen Veiga '09 just 2:06 into the game.
To keep the momentum with Bowdoin, Madeleine McQueeney '09 slammed home a rebound 47 seconds later.
Shavonne Lord '10 netted the third unanswered Polar Bear goal from Julia King '09 at 21:46 of the first half. Waiting at the left post, Lord was the final recipient of a string of nifty short-distance passes between Megan McCullough '10, Lindsay McNamara '09, and King that left the Bates defense confused and out of position.
However, the Bobcats refused to go into halftime quietly. Morgan Maciewicz was able to sneak a deflection into the cage from Annie Wilson at 20:00 for the first Bates goal.
The Bobcats also started the scoring off in the second half when Abby Childs '09 scored off a pass from Jenna Dannis '12 during a penalty corner opportunity at 22:09.
While Bates was able to pull within one tally of the Polar Bears, both McNamara and Lord were able to find the back of the cage behind the Bobcats goalkeeper. Both goals, scored in the last 15 minutes of the game, came off of assists from Kate Gormley '09.
The 5-2 victory earned Bowdoin a trip to Medford, Massachusetts, to play in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday afternoon against Middlebury. A win against the Panthers would mean the Polar Bears play for the NESCAC championship on Sunday.
The last game of the regular season was a fast-paced nail-biter down to the final whistle. The No. 1 spot in the NESCAC and the right to host the championships was on the line in last Friday's game against the Jumbos.
Again Bowdoin was rewarded for starting the game with intensity as Lord tipped a rocket of a shot from King past the Tufts goaltender at 29:11 of the first half.
The Jumbos responded with three goals to put the Polar Bears at a two-goal deficit with 3:57 remaining in the half.
Gormley ignited the Polar Bear bench and cut the Tufts lead in half when she buried a pass from King inside the left post with 2:16 remaining before halftime.
Roxanne Tully extended the Tufts lead by scoring its fourth goal of the contest after collecting a pass in her defensive end and charging down the left side of the field for the shot 12 minutes into the second half.
Bowdoin played hard for the rest of the game but was only able to net one more goal before time ran out. King converted on a penalty corner opportunity from the lower left side of the scoring circle off the pass from Veiga at 28:06 of the second half.
The 4-3 loss placed the Polar Bears in second place heading into the first round of the NESCAC playoffs.
The Bears now look to their Panther foes on Saturday. In regular season play Bowdoin defeated the Panthers 2-0, with both goals coming from McNamara.
"The NESCAC tournament is always exciting and competitive, especially this year because all four of the teams are in the top ten of the national poll," said McNamara. "We are definitely focused on Middlebury and look forward to putting together our best 70 minutes of the season."
With a victory on Saturday, the Polar Bears will advance to the championship game on Sunday and face the winner of the Trinity-Tufts match in hopes of capturing their fourth straight NESCAC title.