The women's hockey team started strong before giving up seven unanswered goals in two games last weekend at No. 1-ranked Amherst. The losses dropped the Polar Bears to 9-9-2 (6-5-1 NESCAC) on the season with four games left against NESCAC opponents. Amherst's wins put them further atop the NESCAC rankings at 15-2-4 (10-1-3 in NESCAC) over rival Middlebury.
The back-to-back games for the Bears at Amherst started out well Friday night as the Bowdoin women jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period despite being outshot 10-7. Bowdoin took advantage of a heads-up play by first year Kayte Holtz, who stole the puck from an Amherst defender behind the net and found sophomore Dominique Lozzi during a Bowdoin line change for the games first goal.
Lozzi got involved on Bowdoin's second goal as well when she found sophomore Shelagh Merrill, who extended her team lead in goals with her 12th on the season. However, from there on out Amherst barraged Kayla Lessard '13 with 22 second-period shots to score three goals before the period's end. After much of a scoreless third period, the Polar Bears pulled their goalie with a little over a minute to play and almost tied things up with sophomore Alex Fahey's shot with 22 seconds left in regulation, but Amherst goalie Sinead Murphy made the big save to cement the home victory for the Lord Jeffs.
Less than 24 hours later, Amherst made it clear on the ice that the second part of the doubleheader would not be as close. The hosts played with a tenacity missing the day before as they celebrated Senior Day by posting five goals on the Polar Bears, while holding Bowdoin scoreless to win 5-0. Continuing their offensive attack from the day before, the Lord Jeffs pelted Lessard with 45 shots, dominating that battle by a 45-17 margin.
Bowdoin will look to regain its form heading down the straightaway as they host Senior Weekend games against Trinity on Friday and Wesleyan on Saturday.
This weekend's games will be the team's final home games of the regular season, as they will then head to Middlebury and Williams to finish up the season. Of the final four games, two of them are against top-10 opponents. Middlebury is ranked fifth and Trinity is sixth.
"I feel that the team has been working hard," said Head Coach Stacey Wilson, "and players are ready for these challenges and are more determined than ever before."