This past weekend, the women’s soccer team ended its season in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Polar Bears advanced to the second round of the tournament the first time since 1999, but the 24th seeded Bears were unable to secure a win against the favored sixth-seeded Ithaca Bombers. The loss brought their season to a close with an 11-4-4 record, a solid improvement over last year’s 6-6-3 record.
The first of the weekend’s matchups was a close game in Ithaca, NY against Scranton that was ultimately decided by penalty kicks, the team’s third consecutive game decided that way. Bowdoin edged Scranton 5-3 in the shootout after a 0-0 tie, continuing on to the next round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade.
Freshman goalkeeper Bridget McCarthy was instrumental in the team’s shutout, keeping seven attempts out of the net throughout the game.
The following day, Bowdoin lost 2-1 to the Ithaca Bombers, a team with an impressive 19-1-2 record. The Polar Bears’ first goal came in the 27th minute of play after lead goal-scorer Jamie Hofstetter ’16 fed sophomore Abby Einwag down the line, where Einwag headed in the low ball for the first goal of the game.
The Polar Bears carried this lead into the intermission, but lost it about 15 minutes into the second half, when the Bombers also scored off a header to tie the game 1-1.
Despite a flurry of shots from Bowdoin, only Ithaca was able to convert. They eventually brought the score to 2-1 with a hard shot that caused McCarthy to fumble the ball, which fell and bounced between her legs over the goal line.
Ithaca will move on to the third round of the tournament against Misercordia this weekend, while Bowdoin’s season comes to a close. This marks the end of the first season under the leadership of first-year Head Coach Brianne Weaver, who took the place of Maren Rojas after Rojas resigned from the team over the summer.
Despite the loss on Sunday and the end of the season, sophomore Abby Einwag, who scored two important goals during the NCAA Tournament, feels this season has been extraordinarily successful.
“I am very pleased with this year,” she said. “When comparing this year to last, the biggest change is the dynamic of the team. When we had no coach [over the summer] everyone stepped up and played a bigger part. We had to come together and figure it out on our own.”
Einwag also emphasizes that the team will only get better.
“We can do even better next year,” began Einwag. “If we keep up the hard work in the off season and everyone does their part, then we will have a good opportunity to go far next year.”