Katie Riley ’14 finishes her career with 46 goals and 35 assists, placing her fifth and fourth all time in each category, respectively. With 127 points, Riley ranks just behind Lindsay McNamara ’09. This season alone Riley tallied 59 points, making her the third highest single season scorer in Bowdoin history.
The capstone of Riley’s career was this year’s national championship. But the road to the championship was a bumpy one. Bowdoin had disappointing losses to Tufts and Middlebury. Neither Riley nor the team, however, lost hope after those losses. Their perseverance paid off just three days later with a win against Trinity, which included Riley making history with four goals, tying the record for most goals scored in a NESCAC tournament game. From there, the Polar Bears went on to beat Tufts the following week, with Riley contributing one of Bowdoin’s four goals.
“I thought it was really cool that we could bounce back as a team, [especially] with the close loss during the NESCAC game,” Riley said.
Riley got an assist on sophomore Rachel Kennedy’s game-winning goal during the championship match. Riley and Kennedy were the top-scoring duo in the NESCAC this season, ending with 21 goals apiece. Combined, the pairing earned nine of Bowdoin’s ten goals in the NCAA Tournament. In the process, they became Bowdoin’s all-time highest scoring teammates with 109 points, surpassing McNamara and Ingrid Oelschlager ’11, who had tallied 96 points.
Riley says of the championship game, “It was unbelievable. It was the best overall defense we played all year, it was cool how it can culminate like that at the end of the season. I am very proud of how our team played that entire game.”
Riley, who was a member of the 2010 championship team as a first year, sees differences and similarities both personally and within the team culture from her first season to this year.
“We were on a mission to win a national championship and I knew that since the first time I stepped on the field. Although only getting into six games my freshman year, I really wanted to be a contributor—and I ended up starting both my senior and junior years. Winning the national championship my freshman year really set the bar to where I wanted to end my career,” Riley said.
“She’s a player that you watch and you know that she is giving it everything,” says Kim Kahnweiler ’16. “She makes everyone want to work harder because you see how hard she is working and how hard she wants it.”
Riley’s teammates look up to her as a captain as well.
“She was always someone I looked up to,” said Kahnweiler. “She has this natural leading ability, and she leads by example.”
Riley finishes her career second on Bowdoin’s all-time career points list and assists list, and third on the College’s career goals list.