The men’s soccer team coasted to a 2-0 victory over University of New England Tuesday evening, bouncing back from a 2-0 loss against Middlebury this past weekend. With the win, the Polar Bears improved to 3-3-0.
After controlling play for most of the first half, Nick DiStefano ’18 scored his first career goal off of a rebound of a shot from Matt Dias-Costa ’17. Just two minutes later a Nor’easter defender accidentally deflected a cross from Dias-Costa into his own net, giving the Polar Bears an insurance goal that ended up sealing the game.
The Polar Bears continued to outplay the Nor’easters throughout the second half. Although they could not put together another goal, they still cruised to a 2-0 victory.
Last weekend, the Polar Bears dropped a crucial conference game to Middlebury 2-0, lowering their NESCAC record to 1-3. The Bowdoin loss also marked the fourth straight shutout victory for the Panthers.
The Polar Bears had many chances early on in the game, but were unable to capitalize on any of them. In the 22nd minute, the Panthers took advantage of a corner kick as Middlebury’s Tom Bean’s header escaped Bowdoin keeper Noah Safian ’17.
The Panthers added to their lead only six minutes later when Middlebury’s Adam Glaser chipped a ball over Safian for his league-leading fifth goal of the season.
“They had three shots and two goals,” Andrew Jones ’16 said. “Still, they were two crucial mistakes and we made them.”
The team has been practicing stiffening up defensivley to limit mistakes under pressure and play a more complete game.
“We are working on fixing our mistakes in practice so they don’t happen again,” said senior captain Eric Goitia ’15. “So that’s a positive coming out of this.”
Bowdoin had numerous chances down the stretch and outshot Middlebury 9-3 for the game, but the Polar Bears could not capitalize on any of their chances.
Dias-Costa ripped an open look over the net in the 77th minute, and the Panther defense was able to hold onto the lead for the rest of the game.
The Polar Bear offense was plagued with the same problems around the net they have suffered all season: scoring goals.
“The other thing is composure and finishing around the net—we need to be more efficient with our chances,” said Jones.
“In our league, every team is known for being strong and tough on defense,” Goitia said. “So taking advantage of the opportunities you get is so important.”
The Polar Bears will have to bounce back from a disappointing 1-3 start in the NESCAC if they want to be one of the eight teams that reach the playoffs. They will have plenty of time to work on their play, with nine days off until their next game, which will be against Husson.
Both Goitia and Jones emphasized the importance of playing a more complete game, and said the team will have to make minor adjustments to its overall system.
“We need to continue to focus on getting everything right over 90 minutes—not 89 minutes—with that one minute being when they score,” said Jones.
“We just have to be more fluid going from defense to attack,” Goitia said. “In transition a lot of times we can get caught and we need to focus on that.”
Both said that if the team makes these small changes it could be dangerous team.
“We feel confident that our ability is good enough to beat every team in our league,” Jones said. “If we continue to improve, we can beat the rest of the teams we play.”