On Saturday, the men’s soccer team won 2-0 at home against Connecticut College. The following day at Babson, Bowdoin was defeated 1-0 in double overtime.
In the first half against Conn. College neither team managed a goal.
“I don’t think we played very well in the first half,” Head Coach Scott Wiercinski said. “I thought we got pushed around a little bit because they’re a very athletic, physical team.”
That changed in the second half. Thomas Henshall ’15 opened the scoring for the Polar Bears in the 56th minute. Henshall fired a shot in the lower left corner after Kiefer Solarte ’16 dribbled past the Camels’ defense and played a cross for the assist.
“I thought Kiefer was the man of the match,” Wiercinski said. “He defended their talented left-winger really well and provided the assist on the first goal, so he got it done on both ends of the field. I thought both our outside backs were really good.”
In the 72 minute, Cedric Charlier ’17 doubled the Polar Bears advantage with an assist from Sam Ward ’18. Ward passed to Charlier in the box, who, facing away from the goal, locked his defender behind him and turned and shot the ball into the lower left corner of the net. It was the first goal of the year for Charlier, who was sidelined with an injury for most of the season.
“We’re very excited to have him back,” Wiercinski said. “He’s a big, strong kid so when the game is athletic and physical that’s when he can do really well. He gets things done—sometimes awkwardly—but he makes a big difference for what we’re capable of doing.”
With the win, the Polar Bears improved to 8-4 overall and 4-4 in the NESCAC, while the Camels fell to 5-7-1 overall and 2-5-1 in conference play. Conn. College finished with eight shots, five on goal, while Bowdoin finished with nine shots, seven on target.
Against Babson, both teams were held scoreless all the way into double overtime, where Babson scored in the first 35 seconds. Bowdoin’s best chances came in the second half. In the 50th minute Ward hit a strike from 25 yards out that the Beavers’ goalkeeper knocked down. Later, Matt Dias Costa ’17 missed just outside the six yard box.
“I thought we did enough to create a few chances, but not a lot of chances,” Wiercinski said. “I don’t think we gave up many chances either.”
“I would say people were tired,” captain Eric Goitia ’15 said. “But Babson had two games in two days too, so that’s not an excuse we’re using. I thought we did well against Babson. Our numbers were low and some guys got injured early on so I thought we did well considering the limited amount of players that we had.”
Bowdoin finished with 11 shots, three of which were on goal, and the Beavers finished with 16 shots, six on goal.
“A lot of guys have been hurt, but we got a lot of guys stepping up and doing well and we’re hoping to get a handful of our injured players back,” Wiercinski said.
The Polar Bears visit Colby tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. and then welcome Tufts on Wednesday for their season finale.