After more than a year and a half of away games, the water polo team celebrated its homecoming last weekend by hosting the conference championship tournament at Leroy Greason Pool.
The Bears opened the first round of tournament play against conference rival and defending champions, the United States Coast Guard Academy. After a sluggish first quarter the Bears found themselves in an early 0-5 hole.
"We didn't even get a shot off on their goal," said senior co-captain Simon Ou.
However, after defensive rallies by both goalies Andrew Swafford '11 and Alex Edison '13 including a shutout in the third quarter, as well as offensive production including five goals from star player Noah Perwin '12, the Bears found themselves in a position to strike.
"We have always been a second half-team" said defensive specialist Colin Kennedy '12.
And indeed, with the coaching help of water polo veteran Jim Doyle, the Bears scraped away and brought the Coast Guard's lead down to one with a minute and a half left.
Even with momentum of the deafening crowd behind them, Bowdoin could neither shake off the merciless countdown of the clock nor reel the Coast Guard in from such a lofty lead.
With the referee's final whistle, the score settled at 10-9.
The next two games, however, held less heartbreak for the Bears and more offensive showcasing.
In the second round of play the Bears faced off against the University of Vermont in what quickly escalated into a 14-2 romp of the UVM team.
Led by hat-tricks from Tanner Horst '13 and co-captain Keith Heyde '11 the Bears dominated the field of play with 10 individual players scoring.
It should be noted that UVM's two goals occured within the first three minutes of play, after which the goalie duo of Swafford and Edison posed a shutout for 25 consecutive minutes of play.
Finally, in the third round of tournament action, Bowdoin faced rival Colby in a grudge match after Colby narrowly defeated Bowdoin two weeks prior.
However, the tables turned last Sunday as Bowdoin's offensive duo of Heyde and Perwin each scored six goals leading the Bears to a 14-9 victory over the Colby Mules.
Bowdoin came away from the weekend looking ahead to the D III National Championship, which the team recieved an automatic bid for. It will he held at the Leroy Greason Pool on November 7 and 8.