The Bowdoin Orient

The men’s and women’s tennis teams both saw their last action of the regular season with the women falling 8-1 to Williams, and the men losing to Williams 7-2 and defeating the Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) 8-1.

The women concluded the regular season with a 13-5 record (6-2 NESCAC) and are  ranked No. 7 in the nation.

In doubles play, the women fell 2-1 to the Ephs. The doubles pair of captain Kate Winingham ’14 and Samantha Stadler ’17 was the sole Bowdoin win with its 8-6 victory at No. 2.

Emma Lewis ’14 was the only Polar Bear to snatch a singles victory from Williams. Lewis took a straight-set (6-0, 6-4) win at No. 5. Joulia Likhanskaia ’17 and Kyra Silitch ’17, at No. 2 and No. 6 respectively, were both able to push their matches to the third set before falling to their opponents.

“I think that everyone on the team feels that we can compete with Williams. A lot of the matches were really close,” said Lewis. “There is a chance we may play them again this weekend and we are all excited for the challenge.”

On Saturday, the men lost to Williams 7-2 in yet another battle of nationally-ranked powerhouses, and the teams entered the contest ranked No. 12 and No. 5 respectively. The men’s team lost to Williams on Saturday before beating SIT on Sunday. The Polar Bears finished their regular season campaign with a record of 10-8 overall and 4-4 in the NESCAC.

The men were unable to achieve victory in doubles play against the Ephs. Sam King ’14 and Luke Trinka ’16 came close to a win at the No. 1 position, but fell in a hard-fought 9-7 loss.

Bowdoin went 4-2 in singles play. Sam King ’14 and Chris Lord ’14 were able to snatch wins at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively.

“Williams is the defending national champion—we knew it was very important to get a lead in doubles. Unfortunately, we lost the lead,” said King. “I’m proud of the way everyone fought. We are definitely excited to get another opportunity to play them, we are very capable of winning.”

The men closed out their regular season with a statement, shutting out Stevens in doubles play 3-0 and defeating the Ducks 5-1 in singles play. Noah Bragg ’15 was the only Bowdoin player to lose at singles, falling at No. 1 in the third set.

“As a team, we have been improving all season,” said Kyle Wolstencroft ’15. “No matter who we face as the season continues we are confident in our ability.”

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams have qualified for the NESCAC playoffs and both teams will host Trinity College in the first round on May 2.

“I think Trinity is a really tough team and always comes out fired up,” said Lewis. “Right now we are only thinking about this match and are putting all our effort towards winning. We are trying not to take it one game at a time and not focus on the semifinals and NCAA’s just yet.”

“We know Trinity will be a difficult contest. We had a long five-hour match with them in California that ended 6-3 in our favor,” said King. “We have an idea of the types of players we will be facing. We have mostly been focusing on doubles play in practice and on specific situational work.”

The women’s lacrosse team gave up several late-game goals to lose to Tufts 10-9 at home in its regular-season finale. Lindsay Picard ’16 tied things up for the Polar Bears with two minutes to play, but Tufts’ Eliza Halmo won it on a goal with six seconds on the clock.

Picard, Betsy Sachs ’14 and Taylor Wilson ’15 each had two goals for Bowdoin. Sachs added a game-high six draw controls.

With the loss, the Polar Bears finish 4-6 in the NESCAC and will enter the quarterfinals as the No. 7 seed. They will travel to Amherst tomorrow to play the Lady Jeffs at noon.

In their previous meeting this season, Amherst defeated Bowdoin 9-4 on March 8. Amherst is led by NESCAC leading scorer Katharine Eddy and goalie Christy Forrest, whose 56.3% save percentage leads the conference.

Men’s lacrosse finished their regular season on a four-game losing streak, culminating with a loss to No. 7 Tufts on Wednesday. Last Saturday, the team fell to out-of-conference Endicott College, ranked No. 13 nationally. The Polar Bears finish sixth in the NESCAC regular season standings with a 9-6 conference record.

On Wednesday, the Jumbos took the lead for good with 6:40 remaining in the first quarter, and led by as many as nine goals before winning with a final score of 18-11. Eleven players scored goals for Tufts, while only five Polar Bears found the back of the net.

Franklin Reis ’14 led the way for the Polar Bears, securing seven groundballs to go along with five goals and an assist.

After a closely contested first period against Endicott on Saturday, the Gulls led the game 4-3. The flow of the game then went fully in favor of Endicott, which proceeded to outscore the Polar Bears 5-2 and 6-2 in the next two periods to win by a final score of 18-10.

“Once [Endicott] started to win a couple of face-offs, they went on a run,” said Will Wise ’14. “They were a very strong team offensively.”

Captain Dan Hanley ’14 and Wise led the offense for the Polar Bears with two goals apiece. In the net for Bowdoin, Connor Laughlin ’15 conceded 16 goals on 25 shots and Peter Mumford ’17 conceded two goals in six attempts.

“Our offense played well during the match—we just couldn’t get them the ball enough,” said Head Coach Jason Archbell. “We have to be consistent on our defensive clearances and execution against top offensive teams.”

Due to their late-season slide, the Polar Bears will take to the road for their NESCAC quarterfinal game, playing at Amherst tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

The women’s squash team traveled to Princeton University to participate in the Walker Cup Division of the Team National Tournament this past weekend. On Sunday the Polar Bears edged St. Lawrence 5-4 to take 19th place in the nation and finish 3rd in the Walker Cup Division.The team began the tournament on Friday with a 5-4 victory over a strong Wesleyan side—the third win against the Cardinals this season.

The women collected key wins from Sarah Nelson ’17 (No. 2), captain Michaela Martin ’14 (No. 3), Sara Wlodarczyk ’15 (No. 6) and Emily Simonton ’15 (No. 8) to leave the contest tied at 4-4 with one match remaining. Bowdoin’s Alden Drake ’15 (No. 4) secured the win in the final match to seal the result.

On Saturday the Polar Bears faced Amherst, the highest-seeded team in the Walker Cup Division. The team suffered a heartbreaking defeat, losing 5-4 for the second time this month at the hands of the Lord Jeffs. The women said they were happy to claim victories from their top three spots in the ladder, with captain Rachel Barnes ’14 at No. 1, Nelson at No. 2 and Martin at No. 3. Chloe Polikoff ’17 claimed the final win for the Polar Bears at No. 5.

“Luck did not go our way in the Amherst match. They were a tough side but we can take some solace from the fact that they ended up winning the division,” said Martin. “In my match, I beat the girl on Amherst that had beat me earlier in the season. That felt good.”

On the final day of matches the women faced a St. Lawrence side that had defeated them earlier in the season. The Polar Bears got off to a great start, collecting early wins from Nelson, Polikoff, Wlodarczyk and Simonton.

For the third straight day, the last match would decide the contest. Senior Christiana Whitcomb (No. 7)—in her final game ever as a Polar Bear—swept her opponent to claim the win for Bowdoin.

“We were very happy with Christiana sealing the win for us in her last collegiate match,” said Head Coach Tomas Fortson. “Collectively, during this competition we competed better than at any other point over the season,” he added.

The weekend’s action wrapped up the 2013-14 campaign for the Polar Bears, whose eyes are now set towards the future.

“I think we are going to return a lot of talent next year,” said Nelson. “We are sad to lose our two seniors, but we have a lot of juniors who will step up and good leadership throughout the team.”

Coby Horowitz ’14 set a new school record in the mile last weekend with a time of 4:02.12, as the men’s indoor track and field team competed at the Dave Hemery Valentine’s Invitational at Boston University, a non-scoring meet including D-I and club teams.

Meanwhile, the Bowdoin women took part in the Maine State Track Meet held at the University of Southern Maine (USM). The women totaled 195.5 points to finish second behind Bates (205.5), but were able to edge out Colby (183.5), USM (111), Husson (10.5) and Saint Joseph’s (6).

Horowitz led the way for the men,  winning the mile amongst D-III runners and finishing 20th overall out of 300 runners. Horowitz’s mile time was the fastest in D-III in 11 years and the fourth-fastest time in D-III history, earning him D-III National Athlete of the Week honors.Despite his massive personal accomplishment, Horowitz praised the entire team’s performance.

The men’s golf team showed quality play this past weekend, finishing fifth at the NESCAC Qualifier hosted at the par-72 Brunswick Golf Club. Berths for the NESCAC Golf Championship tournament in late April went to the top four performers at this competition, while the top finisher earned the right to host the prestigious competition.The Polar Bears entered the tournament coming off a hard-fought 16th place finish out of 24 at the Williams Invitational last weekend.

The NESCAC Qualifier included teams from ten NESCAC schools, pitting the top-five performers from each school against each other. Bowdoin was represented by seniors Thomas Lilly, Bobby Kaminski and Matt Mathias, along with Dusty Biron ’15 and Thomas Spagnola ’17.

“We have a very strong senior class which has created healthy competition for the starting five spots,” explained senior captain Thomas Lilly. “Having tournament experience and being comfortable on the course when the pressure is on is a huge aspect of playing golf at a high level. Our seniors bring this to the table every weekend. This has also brought out the best in some of our underclassmen.”

The volleyball team faced a tough but constructive weekend, meeting steep opposition with matches against several of the top teams in the nation at the MIT Invitational.

Roger Williams, currently the top-ranked team in New England, was the first challenge for the Polar Bears. Bowdoin battled back from a 0-1 deficit against the Hawks to win an exciting second game, 29-27. Roger Williams managed to fight back and win the final two games to claim their first ever win against Bowdoin. Despite the loss, it was an exciting contest in which a pair of first years, Erika Sklaver and Katie Doherty, managed to post 12 kills apiece.

“It has been a good learning experience for us,” said captain Taylor Vail ’14. “I know we will keep improving with each game.”

The women’s lacrosse team secured a first-round NESCAC tournament home bid this week with a 9-4 win at Wesleyan on Saturday and a crucial 11-10 triple-overtime win at home against Colby on Tuesday. 

The Polar Bears, who are ranked  No. 9 nationally, improved their conference record to 7-2 (10-2 overall) and currently sit at third place in the NESCAC with just two regular season conference games remaining.

Bowdoin played well under pressure against Colby in the team’s midweek game. After squandering a six-goal lead with only 16:32 to go in the match, the squad had to settle its nerves and continue to fight through three extra periods. 

Even though the women’s lacrosse team lost its first game last week, Bowdoin outscored its opponents 39-26 over three games. Despite losing to an unbeaten Trinity 13-5 on Saturday, the team rebounded to defeat Endicott 14-8 the following day. The ninth-ranked Polar Bears suffered just their second loss of the season, but a mid-week victory against the University of Southern Maine (USM) brought the team’s record to 8-2 overall, 5-2 in NESCAC play. 

Captain Carolyn Gorajek ’13 and Tara Connolly ’13 both made it into Bowdoin’s record books on Sunday in the win against Endicott. Gorajek, only two points from breaking the school’s career point mark of 203 set by Adrienne Gratry ’00, recorded four points in the match and surpassed the previous record with 205 career points. Connolly also had an impressive performance against the Gulls, recording six saves on her way to winning her 40th career match. With this win Connolly tied the mark set by Steph Collins-Finn ’09.

“My record speaks to the success of the program over the past four years,” says Connolly. “It was nice that I came in as a freshman and could begin playing right away. I feel as though I have grown a lot as a player over these past four seasons.”

The men’s squash team competed over the weekend in the Summers Cup Division of the team national championship, winning their first match and then losing the next two. The men traveled to Wesleyan for the three-day tournament and were excited to play given the women’s team won the Walker Cup Division of their team national championship the previous week.

The men finished the weekend with an overall record of 1-2, ultimately placing fourth in the C division of the national championships and No. 20 in the nation. The squad began the tournament with an impressive 6-3 win over rival Amherst and then suffered two hard-fought defeats to Middlebury, 1-8, and George Washington University (GWU), 4-5.

Having fallen to a strong Amherst side two weeks prior, Bowdoin was eager to perform well in their first match to keep their season alive. The team put together a solid performance; they recorded wins from No. 2 Stephan Danyluk ’14, No. 3 Will Fantini ’13, No. 5 Reid Wilson ’14, No. 7 Andrew Ward ’15, No. 8 Will Winmill ’14, and No. 9 Alex Reisley ’16.

The women’s squash team won the National C Division championship at Yale University this past weekend. The Polar Bears recorded three wins on their way to a perfect weekend, the program’s first-ever championship win in the Walker Cup. 

The Walker Cup is the championship for teams within the C Division of the College Squash Association. In collegiate squash, the teams ranked 1-24 are all divided into three different divisions based on rank. Teams 1-8 play in the A Division, 9-16 play in B and 17-24 play in C. 

The squad faced tough opposition that has silenced them in previous years. The women began by defeating Colby 8-1 on Friday, and then overwhelmed both Hamilton and Wesleyan in two breathtaking 5-4 victories to win the division.

Both the men’s and women’s squash teams came up short against Middlebury in their quarterfinal rounds at the NESCAC championships held at Trinity in Hartford, Conn. last weekend. The Polar Bears struggled heavily against the Panthers, with the men and women falling 8-1 and 9-0, respectively. Will Fantini ’13 was the lone Bowdoin player on Saturday to win a match in the NESCAC championship tournament, earning a 3-0 shutout at the No. 3 position. “The team battled hard last weekend, but unfortunately we lost a couple of tough ones,” said Fantini. “But with each match our younger players gain more experience.”

This week marked the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason for both the men’s and women’s squash teams. Both squads travel to Trinity to face off against Middlebury and Tufts, respectively, in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament this weekend. No. 1 Torey Lee ’15 said she believes the women have played well this year and are confident going into the weekend because they recently shut out Tufts. According to No. 4 Michaela Martin ’14, the women are currently ranked No. 17 nationally and are on the cusp of the B and C divisions of nationals. ​

The men and women’s squash teams kicked off their regular season this past weekend with two matches apiece at Dartmouth College.

Both the men’s and women’s squash teams hope to build on the success of last year, when both teams competed in the National Team Championships Division C bracket.

Women’s tennis concluded their 2012 season in style this past weekend at the Bowdoin Invitational. The squad triumphed at the event, brushing aside Wellesley, Rochester, and Bates to win 29 of 30 competitive matches, a very dominant win.

The men’s golf team finished its 2012 season on a high note this weekend. On Saturday, the squad triumphed at the Martindale Country Club, defeating rivals Bates and Colby in order to clinch the Colby-Bowdoin-Bates (CBB) trophy for the first time since 2010.