BRUNSWICK – Call Nichols, Michael Gale and Evan Gershkovich converted penalty kicks as Bowdoin advanced to an NCAA Division III men’s soccer sectional final by beating Amherst on Saturday.
The teams were tied 1-1 after overtime, and the Polar Bears prevailed 3-1 on penalty kicks.
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Bowdoin (15-1-3) set a school record with its 15th win and will host Middlebury at 1 p.m. today for the chance to go to its first Final Four.
Bowdoin led 1-0 at halftime and had more quality chances than the Jeffs (13-3-3) in regulation, including a failed penalty kick. The Polar Bears nearly ended it in the opening minute of the first 10-minute overtime when Eddie Jones set up Alex Marecki in close, but Amherst goalkeeper Leonard Kovacs made a sensational diving save.
With 40 seconds left in the second overtime, Zach Danssaert worked around a defender and beat Kovacs from 15 yards, but Chris Lerner got to the crease in time to prevent the ball from reaching the goal.
The penalty kick round calls for five shooters from each team. If it’s still tied after the first five, a second set of five gets its chance.
Amherst’s Spencer Noon went first and beat goalie Dan Hicks with a grounder inside the left post.
Nichols was first for the Polar Bears. He had taken Bowdoin’s penalty kick 15 minutes into the second half, going for the lower-right corner, but Kovacs guessed correctly and made the diving save before also denying Danssaert on the rebound.
“We’ve had plenty of games like that this year, but we just have so much faith in each other and confidence in ourselves to get it done,” Nichols said.
While preparing for his penalty-round kick, Nichols said: “I think (the goalie) figured I’d go the same way and I saw him jump a little bit, and I just thought, ‘Bury it.’“
That’s what he did, putting the shot under the middle of the crossbar.
Both goalies stopped the second shooters, and after Hicks blocked Amherst’s third kick, Gale grounded a shot toward the left side that went off Kovacs and inside the post to give Bowdoin a 2-1 advantage.
When Amherst’s Chris Linsmayer sent a shot over the goal, that meant Bowdoin needed just one more conversion to advance, and Gershkovich, a freshman, was next.
“I was a little bit nervous,” he said, “but once their best players had missed, I knew we couldn’t lose at that point. I just wanted to make it and end it now.”
Gershkovich shot for the right side, and when it got past Kovacs and inside the post, Bowdoin advanced to the sectional final.
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