Chad Martin '16

Athlete of the Week: Jordan Smith '14

Women's Lacrosse

After two years on the bench recovering from an injury, lacrosse attacker Jordan Smith ’14 went on to score 44 goals in her junior year, finishing the season with just five fewer than Carolyn Gorajek ’13, Bowdoin’s all-time goal, assist and points leader. With Gorajek’s graduation, Smith is well on her way to taking over as the team’s leading scorer. In the first six games, she has scored 17 goals and handed out seven assists.
Smith’s father introduced her to the game at an early age when he brought home a few lacrosse sticks from a yard sale. In second grade, she joined her town’s fledgling program and had made the decision to play in college by her freshman year of high school. Twenty-eight school visits and hours of game tape later, the New Jersey native settled on Bowdoin after an overnight visit, which she said “felt like home.”
Smith only played the attack position occasionally in high school, but came to Bowdoin expecting a change from her position as midfielder. She earned a starting position her junior year and is now the center of the team’s attack. The Polar Bears’ offense starts at the top of the offensive zone and prioritizes mid-field drives, leaving the low attackers to buzz around the crease looking for feeds. Smith has proven to excel at backdoor cuts and catches in traffic.
“She’s probably the one attacker I hate to cover,” defender Erica Nangeroni ’14 said of their practice scrimmages. “She has the quickest feet and she’s the hardest cutter to cover, which on defense is annoying but on offense is exactly what you need.”
Statistics also suggest that she gets a lot of goals by converting on close. She has scored 17 goals on 29 shots—a 58.6 shooting percentage that ranks second in the NESCAC among the top 50 scorers. Her incredible shot on goal record of 90 percent proves that she can beat the goalie when she gets the ball near the net.
She currently averages more goals per game than anyone else in the NESCAC, tied with teammate and midfielder Betsy Sachs ’14.
She also recorded a competitive five turnovers at this point in the season, lowest on the team and proof of her reputation among teammates for holding on to the ball.
“Personally, I feel really comfortable with Jordan on the field,” Nangeroni said. “I’m never worried about her losing the ball. I trust her decisions on the field.”
“She’s a great person to play with,” Sachs said. “I know I can throw a pass to her and she’ll catch it. She’s good about freeing herself up.”
Fellow attacker Molly Popolizio ’14, responsible for eight assists and a goal so far this season, also agreed.
“She will catch almost everything in the middle,” she said. “She makes other players look better.”
Popolizio also attributes Smith’s success to her ability to shoot as soon as she catches a pass. Many players need to separate from the defense to catch passes cleanly, and often give up a shooting lane to do so.
“She doesn’t need that extra space from a defender,” Popolizio said. “She always cuts at a good angle to shoot.”
The team has gotten so used to her precise cuts that they are able to anticipate her moves on the field. This has made it particularly difficult for opposing defenses, considering that her own defense, which knows how she plays, struggles to contain her attacks.
As an environmental studies and sociology double major, she has also taken on captain responsibilities this year. Her fellow captains appreciate her approach to the job. Nangeroni acknowledged her ability to appeal to different personalities on the team and Sachs noted that some of the team’s current pregame rituals are of Smith’s design.
Smith has a well-known attacking move where she gets the ball from behind the goal and tiptoes along the crease before putting her stick behind the goalie, depositing the ball directly into the net. If her scoring rate persists, it’s a move that spectators on all sides will likely see a few more times.
The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

Athlete of the Week: Kate Winingham '14

Women's Tennis

Kate Winingham ’14 has led a women’s tennis team that is on a tear as of late, winning seven matches in a row and opening undefeated in conference play. With five first years on a team of ten women, Winingham has been challenged this year acclimating the new players to the culture of the team.
“How we behave on the court, how we act before matches, after matches—it’s about keeping those standards,” she said, “We’re known as a respectful team.”
Leading by example seems to be her style. Winingham currently holds the No. 1 singles spot and the number No. 2 doubles spot with Samantha Stalder ’17. She has split the No. 1 singles billing with Tiffany Cheng ’16 at points this season. During the spring season, Winingham is 11-4 in singles play and 10-2 in doubles play. She has paired well with Stalder so far this season.
“I’m more of a baseliner,” said Winingham. “I try to set up a shot so she can poach. She has good instincts about when to poach and when to fake.”
Winingham’s capable net play differentiates her from most women’s tennis players and her propensity for approaches has shaped her doubles play, where the points are shorter.
“She tries to get to the net as fast as possible,” Stalder said, “If she sees that they’re on their back foot, she’ll creep in. She puts a lot of points away.”
Emma Chow ’15 also notes that Winingham is a quick starter, which benefits her in doubles because those matches are a race to eight games.
Head Coach Paul “Hobie” Holbach and Winingham now joke that she lacked a definitive game when she first arrived on campus. Holbach noted that Winingham was the last recruit he chose that year, choosing her over another player because of her competitive drive and experience with team sports. Winingham said she dedicated more time to playing soccer than tennis before Bowdoin, although she did win All-State honors for tennis in Indiana during high school. Additionally, her brother, Kent Winingham ’12 was a member of the men’s tennis team at the time.
“She was a good athlete—that was about it,” Holbach recalled. “She didn’t have the tennis background, but I figured I could help her with the tennis part.”
Chow noted that even though Holbach likes to keep the team small, he always adds a few “project players” that he works on developing. More often than not, those players go on to contribute meaningfully to the team.
But even now, Holbach goes out of his way to praise Winingham’s intangibles.
“For the first three years, she was stubborn—not always in the best graces of the coach,” Holback said with a laugh. “But stubbornness is a good thing; it’s just about using it in a positive way. Every year she’s grown.”
“She’s been a terrific captain,” he continued, “better than I could have hoped. I don’t just make seniors captain. I only pick them if I think they can do the job.”
Winingham has become a more aggressive player as her career has progressed. As an all-court player, she can take advantage of her uncommon net game to counter against players with better groundstrokes. A balanced repertoire and above-average athleticism have given her an advantage in many of her singles matches.
She said that she feels more pressure as her career has progressed because now—playing at No. 1 singles and representing the team as captain—she has higher expectations for herself.Holbach said he believes she likes the pressure.
“If she’s not playing well, she can still compete and fight through it,” he said. “I can put her down in a match and I don’t have to worry about whether or not she can be there that day. A lot of girls have the strokes. Big deal. Are you a player who wants the ball?”
“I’m proud that she’s become a very good leader,” Holbach said, “I try to teach all my girls to become good leaders. I’m proud of her journey.”
Winingham will graduate with a degree in sociology. She is a member of Peer Health and will go to nursing school after Bowdoin.
The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

Athlete of the Week

Baseball

Alex Vasile

Orient Staff

April 4, 2014

After a year of waiting due to a spinal cord injury, Chad Martin ’16 began his Bowdoin baseball career in Florida with three hits in his first four at bats. Thirteen team games later, he’s barely slowed down, maintaining a .448 batting average and leading the NESCAC in hits. He is also second in RBIs and has claimed more bases than anyone else in the conference. He got on base five times in 12 at-bats in the Trinity series and recorded an RBI or a run scored in each of the three games.

On March 25, Martin was named the NESCAC Player of the Week for his terrific stretch in Florida. Martin had an impressive 21 hits in 12 games while accumulating a monstrous .717 slugging percentage.

The now 6’4” student played a number of sports throughout his childhood and also played football throughout high school. Baseball was always his first love. His grandfather Angelo Dagres, who played for the Baltimore Orioles, made sure of that. Martin calls Dagres his inspiration and remembers how his grandfather attended every practice for every sport he ever played. He attended the Trinity series last week as well.

Martin believes his grandfather would have followed him to California if he had decided to attend college there, but Dagres—a Massachusetts native—does not need to travel far to see most NESCAC games.

Martin played some AAU ball on a few teams coached by his grandfather, and the resulting exposure helped him enter The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Mass. for high school. Martin considers his junior year at Governor’s his breakout year. He also began playing at showcases and talking with schools from all three divisions. The sought-after recruit seemed settled on Holy Cross (which is D-I) until a last-minute change of heart placed him on the Bowdoin campus.

Unfortunately, Martin did not see any playing time on the diamond in his first year as a Polar Bear. An L5 stress fracture in his spine took longer to heal than the projected three-month recovery time, holding him on the bench for eight months—Bowdoin’s entire season.

“My doctor told me it would be fine to play, but I got in the batting cage and my back still hurt,” Martin said. “They told me they guessed it wasn’t healed quite yet.” The stress fracture required Martin to wear a back brace at all times.

Martin remained close to the team despite the brace and spent most of the time he would have spent on baseball training instead on physical therapy.

“It was hard,” he said. “I couldn’t wait to come to Bowdoin and play baseball, so it was tough going down to Florida and seeing everyone else being able to play.”

The eight-month hiatus ended in time for Martin to participate in fall ball. He acknowledged having some difficulty getting back to his pre-injury form, both physically and mentally, despite some summer preparation with his grandfather. Still, during this year’s Florida trip, Martin showed up eager to hit but found the field crowded.

Talented junior Sam Canales was locked in at third base and Martin saw the field only as a stopgap when senior outfielder John Lefeber had to sit out for a week due to a minor injury of his own.

Instead, Martin has filled the role of designated hitter, though he is always looking for opportunities to get back onto the field, or at least the infield.

“I hadn’t played outfielder in my entire life,” he laughed. “I’d be the first to admit I’m not a solid outfielder.”

He has noted the difficulty involved with getting excited for an at-bat only to return to the bench for an extended period when it concludes. Martin also believes that his opening game performance in Florida reignited his confidence, and that his post-injury adjustments have actually made him a better baseball player.

“Before the injury, my work ethic was not as strong as it was after the injury,” he said. “It became my goal to get back to where I was [before,] and then to exceed that.”

Already one of Bowdoin’s most valuable players, Martin’s continued growth could put Bowdoin in a great position for a postseason run.

The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

Comments are permanently closed.