Tomorrow, the women's field hockey team will advance to the NESCAC semifinals for the sixth consecutive year. The Polar Bears will be defending their current ranking of second in the league against old rival Amherst.
The team will be looking to prove itself after suffering its first defeat last Friday against Tufts, falling 1-0.
"It was a close game," coach Nicky Pearson said. "A very defensive game. It came down to them converting on one of their chances and we didn't. We had some opportunities to score but not as many as we normally have. They did a good job of limiting us to a few chances."
The team is disappointed, but senior captain Ingrid Oelschlager feels that they weren't playing their best game.
"We started out slow," she said. "We weren't stepping up to the ball as well, there wasn't as much defensive pressure as usual. It was a combination of us starting out slowly and them coming out ready to go, but we struggled to get the ball in our offensive 25 and couldn't create enough shooting opportunities and get in the circle."
The Jumbos have a standout forward in Tamara Brown, "probably one of the best players in the league," according to Pearson. On Friday, she scored the game-winning goal for Tufts while being marked by senior captain Shannon Malloy who described her as "a great finisher." It was the seventh goal scored against Bowdoin this season.
Brown scored within the first 15 minutes of the game, but the Polar Bears' defense successfully repelled the Jumbos for the duration of the match.
"We're working on getting back to really great one-on-one defense," Oelschlager said.
Tufts will face Trinity this weekend in the semifinal round.
"[We'd] love to see them lose to Trinity, but we'd also love to play them again. Playing our top game, we could definitely beat them," Oelschlager said.
The Friday loss to Tufts behind them, the Polar Bears faced Connecticut College in the NESCAC quarterfinals Sunday. The Polar Bears beat the Camels 3-0 the month before and continued the trend with a 2-0 victory.
"We were confident about being able to beat them," Oelschlager said. "There were no big surprises."
Kassey Matoin '13 scored at the end of the first half on an assist from Oelschlager. Katie Herter '12 scored the second goal off of a second-half penalty.
But any tournament game is more nerve-wracking, even against a lower-seeded team like Connecticut College who finished its season at 7-8.
"As soon as you start the NESCAC tournament, there is so much more at stake in each game," Pearson said. "They're a talented team, and we knew both teams were fighting to continue their season."
This Saturday, the Polar Bears will face Amherst, who they beat 4-3 in the season opener. Since then, no team has managed to score more than one goal against the Polar Bears.
"They have been playing very well," Pearson said. "They don't really have one standout player, they're all very talented."