Louise Johnson '14

Athlete of the Week: Bobby Kaminski '14

Peering over a bunker and onto the green, golfer Bobby Kaminski '14 took a step back to scan from a better angle. Confident in his decision, he addressed the ball again and with a short, compact swing, punched the ball over the hill in a spray of white sand. After a short flight, the ball dropped slightly above the pin and with a slight backspin, rolled gently until it stopped near the hole.

Athlete of the Week: Ellery Gould '12

Women's soccer captain Ellery Gould '12 is no stranger to being a team leader. Since her first year, Gould has led the squad in both total goals and points. Last Tuesday, Gould became the program's all-time leading scorer in a non-conference game against the University of Maine-Farmington. Gould scored with 2:37 in the second half, bringing her career tally to 39 goals, breaking the 27-year-old record of Marte Holden '85.

Athlete of the Week

September 30, 2011

Friendship is what got Louise Johnson '14 into the game of soccer, and is what's keeping the Polar Bear goalkeeper in the game for the long haul.

Johnson's soccer days began in second grade when a friend asked her to try out for the Manhattan Soccer Club.

The bond that inspired her in the beginning has guided the rest of her soccer career, as her favorite part of soccer continues to be the team aspect of the sport.

Team unity was crucial in the women's grueling back-to-back games against NESCAC foes last weekend.

Johnson didn't see playing time last year, though she gained experience by watching her older teammates.

This is Johnson's first year as a starting goalie, and she described her first games as "extremely nerve-wracking."

The Polar Bears hosted Middlebury on Saturday and then traveled to face off against Williams the next day. Though Bowdoin fell to Middlebury on Saturday in overtime and tied Williams in double overtime, Johnson's goalkeeping stood out.

She managed eight and nine saves in the two games, respectively, playing the entirety of both games for a total of over 205 minutes of action.

At one point in the match against Williams, Johnson fouled an opposing striker inside the box and received a yellow card.

"We were not going down from my yellow-card play," she said, and recalled thinking, "I had better save it."

In the moment of pressure, Johnson's team-centric mentality and athletic determination shown through: she was unwilling to be the reason for her team falling behind.

Johnson believes that team chemistry is key to changing the Polar Bears' fortune on the field from a sub-.500 season last year to a 2-2-2 record so far this year.

"We have been sitting low in the NESCAC for so long," she said. "It's our time to move up and everyone owes it to themselves and to the team to play their hardest."

Her performance as a starter this year shows that her daily goalkeeper training sessions before team practices have helped shape her into a reliable and consistent keeper.

Johnson hopes to enjoy the remaining years of her tenure at Bowdoin. She said she has met "a great network of friends" through soccer that she hopes to stay connected to after graduation.

For Johnson, having "24 teammates always there for each other with a common goal" is something extremely special.

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