The Bowdoin Orient

Last Thursday, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Constitutional and International Law and Government Richard Ernest Morgan ’59 died of metastatic lung cancer at the age of 77. A distinguished professor who taught at his alma mater for 45 years, Morgan was buried yesterday in Pine Grove Cemetery—where many former faculty members, including Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and several College presidents, are also buried. 

According to fellow Bowdoin faculty members, constitutional scholars from around the country and four decades worth of students, Morgan was a caring and dedicated scholar with a range of passions outside the classroom that added to his impressive life.

A Teacher at HeartMany liberal arts colleges do not have a permanent constitutional scholar on campus, and the most famous professors in the field are almost all faculty at prominent law schools—not undergraduate institutions. 

“He was primarily interested in teaching to undergraduates,” said Michael Ulhmann, a constitutional law professor at the Claremont Graduate School who knew Morgan for over two decades. “That’s a rare thing in someone who’s marvelously competent at Con Law. I’m sure he was tempted by large schools…but he deliberately decided to return to his own school because he liked the idea of a liberal education in the old sense.”

Morgan was well published, writing numerous scholarly texts and hundreds of essays and articles about constitutional law for various journals and think tanks throughout his career. For professors like Uhlmann, Morgan was a trendsetter in the study of the Supreme Court, despite the relative anonymity that came with working at a small college in Maine.

“[Morgan] made me rethink a lot of things dealing with the First Amendment and the role of courts,” Uhlmann said. “[He] was, you might say, an originalist before that term became popular. That’s a pertinent and interesting point of view that really deserves to be heard and [Morgan] was among the very first in his own quiet way to do that. And his First Amendment views have really become the new orthodoxy, if I can put it that way, among a lot of very smart Con Law scholars. He had a very useful impact on people who follow these things closely, but not in a world of larger fame.”

Professor James Stoner, a constitutional law professor at Louisiana State University who Morgan befriended in the mid 1990s, echoed Uhlmann’s sentiments about Morgan’s role in their field. 

“He could see a major case coming well before it was ever picked up in the press,” Stoner said. “He knew constitutional law so well that he had a whole feel for what the Court was doing and, mind you, that’s not because he thought the Court was doing the right things, but he still had a real sense of what direction they were heading in.”

Morgan was as appreciated by his students as he was by his colleagues. Many of his students, like Mitch Zulkie ’91, who studied law after Bowdoin and now works for the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, alluded to Morgan’s unique ability to question their assumptions in a scholarly and thought-provoking manner. 

“He’s not the type of guy who gives you clear answers,” Zuklie said. “He forces you to think through probing questions. He trains people to ask those kinds of probing questions. When you ask, ‘Should I do X or Y?’ he never really says X or Y. He leads you to your own conclusion. But undoubtedly you were much the wiser for the questions he asked.”

Another of Morgan's former students, Ed Lee ’74, went on to become the Mayor of San Francisco, Calif. in 2011. 

“We mourn the passing of Professor Dick Morgan, whose legacy lives on through the generations of students he had taught at Bowdoin, inspiring many—including myself—in a career of law and government," the mayor said in a statement to the Orient. “As Bowdoin's only constitutional law professor, Professor Morgan taught his students to think critically, thoughtfully and passionately about the law and the pursuit of justice for all. I am proud to have called him a teacher, a mentor and a friend.” 

Students also greatly valued his narrative approach to constitutional law—a subject that has the reputation of being dense, repetitive and dry. 

“He had this way of taking case law and bringing it to life,” said Steve Robinson ’11. “Every class was like an episode of ‘Law and Order.’ It didn’t matter if this was a murder that happened in 1886—he had a way of narrating it and bringing it to life with his Sean Connery voice. The entire class would be in a trance and wanted to know what happened next.”

Morgan’s reputation as an outstanding constitutional law professor earned him deep respect and admiration from his colleagues.

“I can remember when I visited campus interviewing, I went out to dinner with him and [Gary M. Pendy Professor of Social Sciences Jean] Yarbrough and enjoyed that conversation greatly—it was one of the highlights of my job interview here,” said Associate Professor of Government Michael Franz, current chair of the department. “To teach his courses the way he did and have students to the very end who admired his approach to teaching—I would love to have anything close to that kind of experience.”

Morgan was also well known at Bowdoin for being one of the few conservatives on a predominantly liberal-minded campus—something he was always aware of in class and in the community. 

One of his long-time colleagues in the government department, Professor of Government Paul Franco, remarked that one of the qualities he admired most in Morgan was his ability to balance his own political leanings with a scholarly approach to his studies. 

“Shortly after the election of George Bush in 2000—the famous Bush v. Gore contest—he and I and Jean [Yarbrough] were invited to a dinner with students, and...one of them addressed Morgan and said. ‘Professor, what do you think of the Bush v. Gore case?’ And he said, ‘Well, as a Republican, I couldn’t have been more delighted by the decision in Bush v. Gore. But as a constitutional scholar, I say I found the decision highly questionable.’”

An Old-School GentlemanMany of the people who knew Morgan best stressed his unique position on campus, both literally and figuratively. Roosting in his office atop Hubbard Hall, he dressed like the picture of an esteemed college professor, had a well-known love for fine scotch whiskey and exercised a dry wit that so many around him treasured. 

“I remember the first time I ever met him,” said Jordan Goldberg ’14, one of many students who grew close to Morgan during his time at the College. “I was waiting outside the honors talks freshman year…and [Morgan] came out first and I had never met him before, and he put his hand on my shoulder and he looked at the offerings of desserts and coffee and said, ‘Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.’”

“I remember the first time that I walked into his ‘man cave’ out in Harpswell,” said Robinson, who occasionally helped Morgan and Yarbrough with tasks at their home. “I was helping him to carry his canoes or something…and after I got done taking care of the canoes, he handed me a $20 bill, and I said, ‘Oh no, I can’t take that,’ and he said, ‘No, you have to do it, otherwise the College will think this is slavery.’”

Morgan also led an active life in the Maine woods. An avid hunter, canoer, fly fisherman and bird watcher, he was never stopped from pursuing his love for the great outdoors. 

“His outdoorsmanship is as deep a part of his scholarship in a way,” said Uhlmann. “I don’t know that he was any prouder of what he did intellectually than his work as an outdoorsman and as a Maine Guide.”

Morgan was also known for steering clear of technology like email. Lynne Atkinson ’81, government department coordinator, had the unofficial position of Morgan’s online voice—helping students get in touch with him and pointing them up the spiral staircase to his office. 

“When I went to meetings with other coordinators, where we were having training sessions on how to do this or there was some newfangled thing we were going to learn, I was always the one that had to raise my hand and say, ‘But what if you have a faculty member who doesn’t use a computer?’” Atkinson said.  “I never really heard anyone else ask that.”

Many described Morgan’s deep love for the College, which he carried with him for all 49 years he spent on this campus. He had been declining in health for the past few years and had begun preparing two final courses to teach before his retirement at the end of the 2015-2016 academic year. After being diagnosed with cancer, Morgan visited one of his former students, President Barry Mills ’72, to discuss his future plans. 

“[Morgan] was doing what he liked to do until he wasn’t able to do it anymore,” said Mills. “And when he sat [in my office] five weeks ago, he really thought he could finish the semester and really wanted to plow through the semester with his students despite the fact that he knew he had some therapy to do.”

Morgan brought his constitutional law textbooks to his consultations in Boston, Mass., preparing his lectures as if nothing was wrong. And in his last days, which he spent in a hospital bed, his love for Bowdoin still shone bright. 

“I visited [Morgan] at the hospital… within a couple of days of him actually passing away,” said Franco. “He was in his hospital room, and not in great shape... He found it difficult to actually speak very much. I was making conversation, describing how I was very impressed by working on this presidential search committee with the love of Bowdoin that the Bowdoin Trustees have. And I turned to [Morgan] and said, ‘Dick, I think of you as one of these super Polar Bears.’ He was kind of staring and then suddenly, he made a huge growling noise to acknowledge his Polar Bear-ness.”

—Sam Miller and Kate Witteman contributed to this report.

Editor's Note: The article was updated to include a statement from the Mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee '74. 

Head Football Coach Dave Caputi, who has been a mainstay on campus since the start of the millenium, announced on Tuesday that he would be stepping down from his position at the conclusion of this season. 

“After a good deal of thought and conversations with (Bowdoin Ashmead White Director of Athletics) Tim Ryan, I have decided that this will be my last season as head football coach at Bowdoin,” said Caputi in his official statement on the Athletics website. 

Caputi will finish out the rest of his 15th season with the College, and afterwards a national search will be conducted to find his replacement. 

According to Caputi, he approached Ryan with his intentions to leave, and they decided to announce his decision as soon as possible for the sake of any recruits who were looking to come to Bowdoin next year. 

“The decision was made [to announce his departure in the middle of the season] in order to make sure that the students who we are in the recruiting process with are able to make informed decisions about the composition of our coaching staff,” said Ryan. 

While the team is 2-2 this year, Caputi’s overall record is 35-81 (.301), which is the lowest win percentage of any Bowdoin football coach who led the team for more than one year. However, only four multi-year coaches in Bowdoin’s history achieved records over .500, and the program overall is only 392-498-44 (.419) in 123 years of play. 

Over his tenure, Caputi’s squad has taken home four Colby-Bowdoin-Bates championships and technically held the trophy for six years (2006-2011) because of several three-way ties. During the six year span, neither Colby nor Bates posted a single record above .500. 2005 was the only season during Caputi’s tenure that his team went above a 4-4 record. 

Unsurprisingly, Caputi has been targeted by members of the community who were disappointed in the football team’s success over his career. Two years ago, the Orient posted an anonymous Letter to the Editor on its online blog that called for Caputi’s removal from the College and many commenters debated the opinion of the letter passionately. The team finished 1-7 that season. 

According to Ryan, the Athletics Department does not solely determine the success of its programs based on their overall win percentages. 

“We evaluate the success of our programs in many different ways,” Ryan said. “How successful we are against our competition is a component of that, but it’s not near the top. The quality of the students that coaches are able to attract to Bowdoin, the character of those students that they bring to campus, the contributions that our programs make in the campus community and the greater Brunswick community—those types of things, as well as the leadership, technical and organizational skills that our coaches have that will position our students to be successful in terms of wins and losses [are more important].”

Jeff Ward, the former Athletics Director who brought Caputi to the College in 2000, said that the coach has received an unfair reputation among many members of the community. 

“I think what people fail to realize is where the program was at when he took over,” Ward said. “There were a lot of good guys on some of those early teams, but there was not a whole lot of talent. I don’t think that Bill Parcells could have won a game [with that talent]. It was such an incredible challenge, and the fact that he maintained his work ethic and his philosophy while digging out of that hole is really a tribute to who he is.” 

Ward oversaw the transition to Caputi from the previous head coach, Howard Vandersea—who went 1-7 in his last season with the team. The Polar Bears did not find a win until Caputi’s second year. In his first four seasons as head coach, Bowdoin was victorious on only two Saturdays. 

“There’s a bit of a luck in coaching,” Ward added. “Both by his ability and his work ethic, [Caputi] should have been rewarded with a lot more wins than he saw. The biggest thing I feel is that people don’t understand really how good of a coach he was.”

For Caputi, the decision to leave his position was one of timing within his own life. His son, starting quarterback Mac Caputi ’15, is graduating this year. He also has a daughter who is a first year at the college and another daughter who will be attending college soon. 

Caputi said that his job has caused him to make many sacrifices in his personal life and that after 15 years of long nights and busy weekends, he is ready to take a break. Caputi said he often stays past midnight in his office at the Peter Buck Center for Health and Fitness, making calls to recruits on the West Coast and analyzing game tapes. 

Furthermore, Caputi added that his almost non-stop work over the past 15 years has often come at a cost. For example, Caputi remarked that he was in his office for all but nine days last summer, and that for around six of those days, he was attending camps to watch potential recruits for next season. 

“My family has had to make sacrifices in order for me to live this life,” he said. Ward—who still remembers the reasons he hired Caputi—said he understood how the grind of being the head of the football program was one of the reasons why Caputi decided to step down."

“The qualities I saw in him then are the same things that I saw throughout his career,” said Ward. “He is an exceptional person and I think that he is incredibly dedicated to the young men that he coaches, and that his values are exactly in line with those of Bowdoin and the NESCAC. I was in college athletics for three decades and he was probably the hardest-working person I ever saw.”

Considering that the announcement came just days ago, Caputi admitted that he has not given any thought to what he wants to do after leaving Bowdoin. 

As the athletics director, Ryan has a unique personal connection to Caputi. A former Bowdoin football player, Caputi hired Ryan as an assistant coach when he decided to return to collegiate athletics in 2005. 

“Dave’s been an important part of our community for a long time. He’s a valued mentor and a friend,” Ryan said. “I look forward to continuing our relationship after he moves on to new opportunities after this season.”

Ward, who has maintained close contact with the Bowdoin community since leaving in 2012, made it clear what he thought of Caputi’s announcement. 

“It’s a loss for the College,” Ward said. “Bowdoin’s a great place. Tim Ryan will run a great search. They’ll get a very good coach, I’m sure. There just aren’t a whole lot of Dave Caputis though.”

“I now pronounce you husband and wife."

If you’ve ever walked past the chapel on a Saturday afternoon and seen a gaggle of people clad in suits and dresses streaming out of its old wooden doors, it’s likely that moments earlier I was upstairs, listening to someone utter those seven words to a newlywed couple.

Over the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to see roughly a dozen teary-eyed fathers walk their daughters down the blue-carpeted aisle of the campus chapel. As a member of the College’s audio-visual department, I often set up for events around campus that require technology—including the surprisingly frequent weddings in the chapel.

Field hockey’s Elena Crosley ’13 has been selected as one of the top-nine finalists for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The winner will be announced October 20 at a ceremony in Indianapolis.

The Woman of the Year Award was created in 1991, and this year the nine finalists—three from each division—were selected from 455 candidates nationwide.  

“It’s an award that acknowledges the accomplishments of some terrific women student athletes,” said Field Hockey Head Coach Nicky Pearson. “There are three components to it—there’s the academic component, the athletic component, and the leadership and community service component.“

The women’s rugby squad completed a tour of Europe over spring break, stopping in Barcelona, Spain and Perpignan and Toulouse, France to play friendly matches against local squads. According to a post on the team’s athletics website from Aviva Mattingly ’15, the team met tough competition in their travels, facing opponents with much more experience. The team scrimmaged against a local French team in Toulouse, playing 15-on-15 with a  mixture of French- and English-speaking players on each team.

Led by reigning NESCAC Pitcher of the Year captain Oliver Van Zant ’13, the baseball team got off to a hot start in the warm Florida climate, where the team plays during Spring Break each year. Despite winning its first four games, including two 7-0 shutouts of Husson, the team lost to Keene State, 4-3 after four extra innings.  In the next nine games, the Polar Bears won just four games and suffered three losses in a row, to finish 8-6 overall. Chief among the team’s early concerns are its hitting and defense—Bowdoin has allowed 109 hits from its opponents across 14 games, while only totalling 108 of its own. 

The softball team cruised to a 4-game win streak in Florida before losing two straight, the first to Keene State 8-4, and the second to Ripon College 13-5. The team rebounded from the defeats, winning seven of its next 10 games to finish the break play 11-5. Of all the teams Bowdoin played over spring break, it compiled the same number of wins as Wesleyan, Salve Regina and Amherst. Despite outscoring its opponents 78-68 over 16 games, the team allowed slightly more hits it had, 120 to 118. The team is averaging just over two errors per game so far. 

Despite a frustrating and effective defensive effort from UMass Dartmouth (UMDM) on Wednesday in Watson Arena, the men’s ice hockey team broke away in the late second period to evenutally beat the Corsairs 5-2 and will advance to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament this Saturday. 

The match began with two one-on-one breakaways by UMDM's front, but they failed to pressure the Polar Bear goalkeeper, Steve Messina '14, who started for Bowdoin for the first time since their win against Hamilton in the NESCAC quarterfinals two weeks earlier. According to head coach Terry Meagher after the game, a commmittee of team leaders and coaches decided to go with Messina even though Max Fenkell '15 had two strong performances in a row against Middlebury and Williams in the NESCAC semifinals and championship rounds. 

"It was a really tough decision," Meagher said. "Max had his run and did really well. We have a young man [Messina] who we’ve been splitting with all season, who is as important a member of this team as anybody. We got the home ice bid by some spectacular play on Steven’s part on the road. If you look at his history, you look at what he did on a Wednesday night two or three years ago against Newman that was a spectacular performance, his work ethic, and how he handled himself when Max got the nod for the championship game—all those things entered into [the decision]. 

For the first time since the vacated NESCAC championship of 2011, the men’s ice hockey team has been crowned NESCAC champions after defeating Williams in a 2-1 battle on Sunday afternoon.

The game began with early back and forth between the two teams, but the puck began to find a home on Williams’ side of the ice, with the NESCAC's goals-against-average leader Sean Dougherty blocking shot after shot from the Polar Bears.

Colin Downey ’14 broke the first period scoring drought during a power play with an untouched laser beam after John McGinnis ’15 and Ollie Koo ’14 feigned a shot on Dougherty’s left but instead passed the puck in front of the net, where Downey struck it past the goalie's reach into the opposite corner of the net.

The men's hockey team never fell behind against NESCAC rival Middlebury on Saturday, swinging out to a 3-0 lead before surviving a late Panther rebuttal to win 4-2. This marks the first NESCAC championship berth since the 2010-2011 season, when the Polar Bears beat Williams, 5-2, but later vacated the trophy due to the uncovering of the team's involvement in a hazing incident.

In front of a rowdy crowd at Watson Arena, the Polar Bears controlled the puck during the first period, pressuring Middlebury's sophomore goalie Mike Peters for 11 shots, two of which slipped in. Both first period goals came at the hands of Danny Palumbo '15.

The second period began much the same way, with back and forth between the two teams before captain Daniel Weineger '13 scored  to give the Polar Bears a commanding 3-0 lead. Midd responded near the end of the second with their first goal.

There are very few people who need no introduction, but Men’s Hockey Coach Terry Meagher is certainly of them, at least on this campus. In his 30th season, Meagher has won an astounding 495 games, 22nd all time among coaches in the history of men’s collegiate ice hockey. Over the course of his tenure, he has consistently attracted talent to Brunswick and deployed innovative strategies for sealing wins. This year is no different for Meagher, as men’s ice hockey now has the most wins since the 1988-1989 season, and was ranked as high as second in the nation. The team is currently the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC championship, and will face Middlebury this Saturday.

But Meagher is more than just a coach, and his 30 years at Bowdoin add up to more than just a successful career. Students cite his easy-going attitude and intense pride for anything Bowdoin-related as reasons behind his significant influence in the lives of generations of students, even those outside of the hockey program.

Born and raised in the blue-collar town of Belleville, Ontario, Meagher is one of nine children. Like many of his siblings, Meagher grew up on the pond.

RC: Middlebury has a record of 39-27-5 against Bowdoin. Will this history have any influence on the outcome of Saturday’s game?

OT: I think that you have to take the historical record into account somewhat when looking at this match-up.  Certainly, Bowdoin has been the strongest team in the conference this year, but as head coach Bill Beaney told me on Monday, the two teams have a long history of playing competitive games against one another regardless of either one's record—potentially adding more significance to the head-to-head match-up. Middlebury knew that to win the NESCAC championship the road would likely lead through Bowdoin, and I think we should all be excited for a competitive game.

RC: Previously this season, the Panthers gave Bowdoin their first tie in a 4-4 OT battle, and then lost 3-0 midway through the season. What were the differences between the games?

On Saturday, the women’s ice hockey team will face Amherst, who knocked the Polar Bears out of the NESCAC playoffs in two of the team’s last three semifinal appearances. Despite this recent history of season-ending losses at the hands of the Lady Jeffs, the Polar Bears stand a good chance of reaching the final this year. 

Bowdoin’s offense was ranked third in the NESCAC in each of the last three years, while Amherst was ranked first in 2010 and 2011 and second last season. The Polar Bears were fourth in overall defense in 2012, fifth in 2011, and fourth in 2010, while Amherst was first in all years except 2011, when they were third. The difference this year is monumental, with Bowdoin ranked first in both offense and defense. 

The last time a NESCAC team was ranked first in offense and defense was in 2010, when Amherst won the NESCAC Championship and eventually won the D-III National Championship over Norwich, 7-2. Two weekends ago, Bowdoin played a series away at Amherst, sweeping the Lady Jeffs with scores of 4-0 and 3-1. It was the first time in five years the Polar Bears had managed a sweep of Amherst in the regular season.  The Polar Bears racked up three goals in the first period during the Saturday game.

The men’s ice hockey team, hot off its highest D-III ranking in team history (No. 2), lost to Amherst at home last Friday for the first time since the Sidney J. Watson Arena was built. The team split the weekend, beating Hamilton the next day. In the team’s first game after its bye week, the Lord Jeffs got off to a quick start by scoring four goals in the first period against Steve Messina ’14. That was enough for Head Coach Terry Meagher, who switched netminders at the beginning of the second period to Max Fenkell ’15. The Polar Bears were only able to score one goal from senior captain Dan Weiniger in the period. “Goal sports are tough—the bottom line is that sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t,” said Meagher. “I thought we played as strong a game for most of it as we’ve played all year. But if we brought close to our best game and played well, then you’ve got to tip your hat to your opponent and respect what they did.”

In a performance of “historic proportions,” the rowing team earned two medals last weekend at the annual Head of the Charles regatta, the largest two-day rowing competition in the world. The varsity women’s four finished their race as the leader of a 38-boat field, while the men’s placed fifth against 45 other teams. This is the first time that Bowdoin has every come away with a gold medal from the Head of the Charles, and the first time they have had two teams medal in the same race. On the second day, the men’s and women’s eights, in a far more competitive field, placed 33rd and 25th respectively. “It was a row of historic proportions,” said Head Coach Gil Birney. “I couldn’t be more pleased.”

When Jeff Ward stepped down this summer after 14 years as director of athletics, it fell to Tim Ryan ’98 to assume the position of interim athletics director. 

A talented baseball and football player who went to Wells High School in Maine, Ryan says he chose Bowdoin because it was “the best academic school that [he] could get into and continue to play one or both sports.” 

The baseball team swept the defending champion Tufts last weekend to clinch a spot in this year's NESCAC tournament. After previously dropping games to other NESCAC East opponents, the Polar Bears entered last weekend in a must-win scenario with a postseason tournament berth on the line.

The men's baseball team finished 3-3 after playing against NESCAC East rival Colby and non-conference Roger Williams and Brandeis over the last week. Over the six games, the team raised its in-game record for defensive errors from four to seven, compiling 18 defensive miscues in total. Before last weekend, the Polar Bears had been averaging around one and a half errors per game; that average has doubled in the past seven days.

Following commanding first-place finishes at their sectional tournament last weekend, the ultimate Frisbee teams will head to the New England regional tournament next week. Stoned Clown, the men's team, went 3-0 in Saturday's round robin play—never winning by fewer than 11 points—before beating Bates 11-5 in the finals. The women, Chaos Theory, shut out Bates 15-0 before beating Colby 15-1 to claim first.

After dealing rival Trinity its only loss in 12 games on Friday, the baseball team lost both games in Saturday's doubleheader and Tuesday's non-conference game against Husson. Bowdoin (15-11, 3-3 NESCAC) maintained second place in the NESCAC East division while allowing Trinity to clinch a spot in next month's playoffs.

The baseball team recovered from a late loss to Bates on Friday by winning three straight games—two against the Bobcats—to stay in second place in the heated NESCAC East standings. The team now boasts records of 14-8 overall and 2-1 in the NESCAC. Although Bowdoin took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning on Friday behind pitcher Christian Martin '14, Bates scored in the fifth and eighth innings, pushing them ahead by one run.

The baseball team split a doubleheader against Wesleyan last Saturday to bring its season record to 11-7. With a total of four runs scored overall between the two games, the pitchers battled to control the tempo and keep the opposing offenses off the board.

After outlasting Trinity 2-1 on Saturday, the second-seeded men's ice hockey team will take on third-ranked Middlebury tomorrow in the NESCAC semifinals. Trinity scored the first goal of the match 1:54 into the first period, but goaltender Steve Messina '14 stopped the next 31 shots to keep the Polar Bears in contention.

After winning the last two games of its regular season on the road, the men's ice hockey team will play in the NESCAC Quarterfinals tomorrow against No. 7 seeded Trinity. The Polar Bears (15-5-3, 12-3-3 NESCAC) handled No. 4 Tufts on Friday 9-2, and then held on to beat Connecticut College 6-4 the following day. Bowdoin is now 12-2-2 in its last 16 games.

After beating Wesleyan and Trinity last weekend at home, the men's ice hockey team clinched a first-round home playoff game. With two matches left to play, Bowdoin is second in the NESCAC standings behind Amherst.

Taking off at a sprinter's pace, the men's track team dominated its final home meet of the indoor season last Saturday, raising its streak of first-place finishes to three. The Bowdoin Invitational was comprised of Bowdoin, Springfield, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Tufts, and Colby. With a final score of 218.5, Bowdoin more than doubled the points of second-place Springfield, who earned only 99.

Men's basketball captain Will Hanley '12 is on pace to break multiple school records. Equally adept at offense and defense, he has high hopes for his post-college career—he's already sent game tapes to professional basketball teams in Europe. In Monday's game against Maine Maritime Academy, Hanley posted 20 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and one block, but ended his 5-game streak of double-doubles. In his final game of the streak, against Maine-Presque Isle, he scored 14 points, with 16 rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

Like a veteran surgeon performing open-heart surgery, the field hockey team dissected its first two opponents in the NCAA D-III tournament last weekend to once again earn a spot in the Final Four. After No. 1 Bowdoin defeated the Keene State Owls in a 4-0 victory, the team trounced the talented MIT Engineers in a 3-0 regional final shutout.

Undefeated regular season? Check. NESCAC championship? Check. National championship? They are just a few games away.

Even though her field hockey team is currently in the midst of an undefeated season, has had six shutout victories over opponents, and is ranked No. 2 in the country, Head Coach Nicky Pearson is as focused as ever. "We've always got things to work on," she said.

At the USA Ultimate East New England Sectional Tournament last weekend, the men's ultimate Frisbee team, Stoned Clown, intentionally sacrificed prospective wins in order to let first year players get a chance to learn the ropes in a real game setting. The team's strategic decision to develop its new talent instead of going for wins indicates that the team is investing in its future.