Over the weekend, the men’s lacrosse team celebrated its senior day with a sizeable victory over Endicott, 14-4. On Wednesday, however, the Polar Bears fell to Tufts in a 21-8 blowout that ended the team’s regular season.
In the first quarter of Saturday’s game, the Gulls held a 2-1 advantage in scoring until Billy Bergner ’13 netted three goals in a row to give the Polar Bears a two-point scoring gap heading into the second quarter. In the following period, the team extended this goal difference, bringing the score to 9-3 heading into intermission. Dan Hanley ’14 accounted for the only goal in the third period, and in the fourth the Bears outscored the Gulls 4-1 to bring the lopsided final score to 14-4.
Bergner, who was celebrating his last regular season home game, scored a team-high of four goals during the match. According to him, the win was due to both the offense and defense stepping up to dominate all aspects of the game. Changes in the offensive plays also helped the team to earn such a dominating victory.
“Coach Silberlicht made some great changes to the offense after the Colby game, and they really paid off against Endicott,” said Bergner.
On Wednesday, the Bears faced off against Tufts in their final game of the regular season. Heading into intermission, the Jumbos took a dominating 10-3 lead that was only extended in the second half of play, ending the game 21-8. This match tied the team’s record for the most goals allowed in a single game—the team has not allowed that many goals since the 1992 season.
Bowdoin comes out of the season with an overall record of 8-6 (5-5 NESCAC), with the Jumbos emerging 11-4 (7-3 NESCAC). The loss to Tufts placed Bowdoin in fifth place in the NESCAC. The Polar Bears will travel to Wesleyan to face the Cardinals on Saturday in the first round of NESCAC quarterfinals.
Bowdoin played Wesleyan on April 13 in a closely contested overtime match that the Polar Bears won, 6-5. All six of Bowdoin’s goals came from different players, but the team will still be looking to its leading scorers— Reis, Bergner, and Hanley. The Polar Bears have a strong history against Wesleyan in the NESCAC tournament, having beaten them in the quarterfinals last year and the semifinals in 2008.