On Wednesday afternoon, the women's soccer team cruised to a decisive 5-1 victory against the University of Southern Maine (USM).
Ellery Gould '12 got the ball rolling with her fourth goal of the year, a 15-yard shot in the 14th minute. Her goal carried the Bears into the second half with a 1-0 lead.
The team got back on the offensive in the second half, as first year Lauren Skerritt scored her first collegiate goal in the 66th minute, tucking away the rebound of a shot from Gould.
A late-game scoring flurry dominated the rest of the contest. Casey Blossom '13 found the back of the net in the 81st minute, as did Skerritt less than a minute later.
USM responded seconds later with a goal from Heidi DeHaan, but first year Morgan Woodhouse scored the last goal of the game, also her first collegiate goal, in the 86th minute.
"Today was our first decisive win and it was [a relief] to finally have a game that wasn't decided by one or zero goals," said Gould. "We were able to convert a lot of our scoring opportunities and we plan to continue this scoring streak into the weekend."
Bowdoin goalkeeper Kat Flaherty '11 made one save for the Polar Bears as the Husky's goalkeeper Kat Rothe was forced to make eight stops.
Bowdoin remains unbeaten against USM, boasting an impressive 25-0-1 record dating back to 1985.
The Polar Bears could have used some of their scoring power last Saturday when the team fell short against conference rival Middlebury in an overtime loss.
The Panthers held an 11-4 advantage in shots for the game.
Middlebury scored early when Nora Tomlinson-Weintraub launched a 20-yard shot into the net in the 13th minute. The Panthers failed to convert an attempt late in the half as Flaherty parried Julie Favorito's shot, but Amy Schlueter was unable to hit the back of the net with her follow up.
Bowdoin responded in the 82nd minute, when a deflected shot from Blossom was rebounded by Gould, who headed the ball in. Both teams were unable to score during the rest of regulation, forcing the game into overtime, the third consecutive game for the Bears.
Middlebury ended up winning the game in heartbreaking fashion. In the last minute of overtime, Annie Rowell was able to find the back of the net off of a free kick to give the Panthers a 2-1 conference victory.
The game marked the fifth consecutive time that a game was decided by one or fewer goals for the Polar Bears, one short of the program's longest streak set back in 1993.
The team returns to action this weekend, hosting a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday. Kick-off versus conference rival Connecticut College (2-2-1 overall, 0-2-1 NESCAC) is scheduled for 12 p.m. Saturday.
The Bears will take on Maine-Farmington the following day at the same time as they look to stay undefeated against in-state rivals.