After suffering its first loss to Amherst since 2003, the field hockey team rebounded with a dominating performance against the Blue Pride of Wellesley College to end the first week of the 2009 season with a record of 1-1.
The Polar Bears showed no mercy in Tuesday's contest against the Blue Pride, launching an astounding 44 shots, resulting in seven goals and keeping Wellesley from putting anything up on the scoreboard.
Forward Katie Herter '12 was the most successful member of the Polar Bear offense netting three goals, two of which came off of assists from Shavonne Lord '10. Lord was also able to blast a shot of her own past Wellesley goalie Sarina Sawyer.
Jessie Small '11, Megan McCullough '10, and Cathleen Smith '13 also each scored a goal, while Ingrid Oelschlager '11 and McKenna Teague '12 each pocketed an assist.
In addition to the impressive multi-point performances of Herter and Lord, first years Kayla Lessard and Smith made notable contributions to the first Bowdoin victory of the season. Lessard recorded her first save as a Polar Bear in the last 10 minutes of the second half and Smith '13 capped the scoring for Bowdoin with her first goal at 45:45.
Not to be overshadowed, the Polar Bear defense controlled their half of the field in suffocating fashion. The Blue Pride were only able to muster six shots, and just three of them made it on net.
"On Monday, we worked on polishing up our one-on-one defense so that we could execute clean tackles which is the first step to starting a successful offensive transition," said midfielder McCullough. "We worked on connecting with attackers on dead-ball situations and shooting at the top of the circle. Finally, we continued to work on finishing in the circle to start putting points on the board. We were able to apply all of what we worked on in our game on Tuesday, and that is why we came out with a win."
A great defensive effort by the Lord Jeffs of Amherst College handed Bowdoin its first loss of the 2009 season last Saturday. Amherst goalkeeper Emily Vitale '11 recorded six saves, while Sarah McCarrick '11 and Tierney Healey '10 of the Jeffs each produced a defensive save.
The Polar Bears led the shots 8-1 at the half, but were unable to slip one past Vitale. However, the Lord Jeffs surged back in the second half to outshoot Bowdoin 4-3.
This increase in offense gave the Bowdoin defense trouble as it gave up five penalty corners, during which Amherst scored both of its goals. Carly Dudznik of the Lord Jeffs scored the first goal from McCarrick at 42:59. Less than 10 minutes later, Amherst's Elizabeth Schink scored the second goal of the contest off of an assist from Casey Silver.
"I would say that we took away from our Amherst game the importance of our offensive finishing," said assistant coach Maureen Curran. "Out-shooting a team 11-5 is great, but now we've experienced what can happen when we don't convert those shots into goals. Given our performance against Wellesley, I'd say this is a lesson our girls took to heart. Watching the improvements each player is making from practice to practice, I can't wait to see how far we progress by the end of the season."
The Polar Bears will look to build on the momentum generated from the Wellesley game when they face the Bates Bobcats on Saturday at 11 a.m. on the familiar home turf of Howard E. Ryan Field. After that, the squad will gear up for a mid-week home game against the University of Southern Maine Huskies on September 22 at 6 p.m.
Assistant coach Chris Waltham said, "I think the goals are to take what we've learned from the Amherst and Wellesley games and turn them into two solid wins. Having new players in some new positions has required some adjustments, but I'm confident we'll get the results we're looking for."