In their last weekend of regular season play, the women’s lacrosse team traveled to Wheaton College on Saturday and hosted Colorado College on Sunday, winning both games 14-3. The No. 9 nationally-ranked Polar Bears ended the season with a 13-2 overall record, following a 12-6 win against Tufts away on Wednesday.
These two victories over non-conference teams extended the women’s undefeated streak to six consecutive games. They finished their regular season with a perfect 5-0 record against non-conference opponents.
On Saturday, Mackenzie Schleicher ’14 produced five goals and an assist, the most goals by a Polar Bear in a single game this year. The women outshot Wheaton 22-10 and suffered only 12 turnovers to the Lyons’ 20.
Captain Carolyn Gorajek ’13 and Jordan Smith ’14 led the Bowdoin attack with three goals apiece on Bowdoin’s senior night. Again, Bowdoin controlled the flow of the game and managed to record 35 shots to Colorado’s 14. Gorajek ends the season with a total of 63 points, just three points behind her season best of 66 from last year, with the playoffs still left to play. Gorajek is just one assist away from tying the College’s career assists record, meaning she could potentially own career records in points, assists and goals. Her career points mark now stands at 230, 27 ahead of the next best record. Her goal record of 164 is 19 ahead of the next highest, which stood for 27 years.
Schleicher raised her season tally to 22 goals and five assists during this week’s games. She explained that her recent goal stretch is largely due to the squad’s intense practice atmosphere.
“I know individually that each day I walk onto that field for practice, I’m playing against the best defensive lineup in our league,” Schleicher said. “We push each other so that we can rise above all of our opponents.”
The depth of the Polar Bear’s bench was put on display this weekend, as Emma Beecher ’16 recorded two goals against Colorado College and one assist against Wheaton.
“I think playing two out-of-conference teams this weekend definitely gave us a lot of confidence to do plays that we might not be as confident with,” said Beecher. “Our team is so tight and inclusive and all the upperclassmen are very helpful and give great advice to the younger players, which helps us improve as a unit.”
The senior night match against Tufts was the team’s last game of the regular season. After an opening goal by the Jumbos in the first five minutes, the Polar Bears’ sticks came alive, lighting up Tufts defense for six unanswered goals in 15 minutes of play. Gorajek scored three goals during the team’s run, and by the end of the first half Betsy Sachs ’14 had three scores of her own.
In the second half, with Bowdoin up 7-2, the two squads went back and forth, matching each other goal-for-goal. Sachs added two more goals to bring her total to five for the night. Smith also snuck three balls past the Tufts goalkeeper to bring her season goal total to 35.
Because it was one of the last home matches for the team’s record-setting seniors, the team was nostalgic about the win.
“I just want to say congratulations to our three seniors,” said Schleicher. “We have incredible leadership all over the field this year from Tara Connolly in goal, Hannah Wright on defense and Carolyn Gorajek always putting the ball in the back of the net.”
The team will face sixth-seeded Hamilton at noon tomorrow in the quarterfinal round of the NESCAC tournament.
The Polar Bears played Hamilton once earlier this season in March, beating the Continentals 10-9 in a heated overtime match in Clinton, N.Y. Bowdoin has high hopes for the postseason, after its best regular season since 2011, when the team went all the way to the NCAA Championship before losing to Gettysburg College.