The field hockey team brought home its fourth NCAA Division III title in seven years on November 24, topping Salisbury in a 1-0 win and ending its season with an 18-3 record. The Polar Bears claimed their last national championship in 2010 and also earned the title in 2007 and 2008.
Captain Katie Riley ’14, Rachel Kennedy ’16 and Mettler Growney ’17 earned All-Tournament honors for their performances in the Final Four, with captain Liv King ’14 winning Tournament MVP.
The first half of the championship match produced a 0-0 stalemate Bowdoin’s first scoring opportunity came 10 minutes into the game, when Emily Simonton ’15 collected a cross on the right post, deflecting the ball just wide of the Sea Gull net. Minutes later, Salisbury retaliated with a shot of its own, which was deflected by goalkeeper Hannah Gartner ’15. Bowdoin charged back down the field, with Adrienne O’Donnell ’15 slipping a reverse stick sweep wide of the cage.
With 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Bowdoin earned its first corner of the game, and Colleen Finnerty ’15 collected the insert, sending a hard shot that narrowly missed the left post. Bowdoin received another corner soon after, but Salisbury mustered a defensive save on the right side to keep the game scoreless heading into halftime.
Bowdoin finally found its footing in the second half of the game as Finnerty carried the ball down the left sideline and sent a shot just inside the circle. Despite Salisbury stopping the shot, the rebound was left loose in front of the Gulls’ cage, where Kennedy stepped up and connected to sink a shot in the right corner of the net, bringing the score to 1-0 lead for the Polar Bears.
Salisbury responded with considerable pressure on the Bowdoin defense, earning a corner and rattling off a shot from the top of the circle, which bounced off a Salisbury player and across the Bowdoin goal line before Finnerty managed to knock the ball out. Although the shot was initially ruled a goal, the referees later retracted the call, awarding the Gulls another corner on which they failed to capitalize.
Despite considerable pressure from the Gulls in the final minutes of the game, Bowdoin managed to hold on to their 1-0 victory and lock in the Championship title.
“With three seconds on the clock and the ball in our offensive circle, as one of the last defensemen back I turned around and started running back at our goalie with my hands up in the air,” Finnerty said of the game’s final moments. “When that final buzzer went off and our bench stormed the field to meet up with the rest of the players screaming and jumping around, it was incredible.”
This championship is unique because as a senior on the team, winning a national title was in the back of our minds the entire season,” said King. “After we won, it seemed like a perfect way to cap off our careers.”
Early Monday morning, the team returned to campus and was welcomed by a crowd of peers, family, friends and faculty.
“Pulling into the Watson parking lot with the police escorting us towards a mob of screaming students was very humbling,” said Finnerty. “It just goes to show how the students at Bowdoin care about each other and wish to celebrate the successes of other students.”
Kennedy echoed Finnerty’s sentiments. “I think most of us were anxious to get back, and seeing all our friends and peers waiting for us is something I will never forget.”
Leading up to the championship match, the team faced Christopher Newport in the Final Four, earning a 4-1 victory to seal their place in the title game. Despite the Captains taking an early lead with a goal only four minutes into play, Bowdoin retaliated quickly, with Riley propelling the ball over the Captains’ goalkeeper only 15 seconds later to tie the game. This first goal opened the floodgates for three more points scored by Bowdoin throughout the rest of the game.
Although the team will be graduating four key seniors, the Polar Bears have high hopes for next season. Finnerty sums up the team’s sentiments: “We will be returning to Brunswick at the end of next August with a stacked roster of eighteen defending National Champions. I have no doubt in my mind that we are going to pick up right where we finished this season.”