Chris Williamson made 15 saves in the winning effort for Bowdoin, which got outstanding play from several of its defensive players, led by Sether Hanson (three caused turnovers, four groundballs) and Matthew Egan (two caused turnovers, three groundballs).
Billy Bergner paced the Polar Bear offense with two goals and two assists.
The 9-6 Cardinals held a 37- 20 advantage in shots. Wesleyan dominated the first quarter, outshooting Bowdoin 16-2.
Wesleyan netminder Grant Covington had nine stops.
The Polar Bears will look to avenge a regular-season loss to Trinity, which took a 7-4 win on April 7 with three goals in the final 3:23.
Women’s lacrosse
Host Amherst rallied from a first-half deficit to edge Bowdoin, 9-7, in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament Saturday at Gooding Field.
Tthe fourth-seeded Jeffs (12- 3) advanced to the semifinals at Trinity College. The fifthseeded Polar Bears (10-6) will hold out hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when selections are announced next weekend.
Allie Horwitz scored four times for Amherst, while Krista Zsitvay scored three times.
Betsy Sachs led the Bowdoin attack, scoring on all three of her attempts, while Carolyn Gorajek, Jordan Smith, Chelsea Albright and Katie Herter each got on the board.
The Jeffs finished with slight 21-18 shot advantage and 18-17 edge in groundballs, while going 10-for-13 on their clears. Amherst’s Lamia Harik made nine saves, while counterpart Tara Connolly made five stops for the Polar Bears.
Baseball
Bowdoin scored five runs in its final at-bat to shock Tufts, 8-7, and clinch a bid to the 2012 NESCAC Baseball Tournament in the opening game of a doubleheader on Saturday at Pickard Diamond.
The Polar Bears completed the sweep of the twinbill with a 4-2 victory in game two, improving to 21-14 (8-4 NESCAC) and earning a second place finish in the NESCAC East Division. Tufts fell to 20-11 (4-8 NESCAC) and misses the conference tourney for the first time since 2004.
Trailing 7-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning of game one, Bowdoin scored twice to trim the lead to 7-3 on a Danny Findley sacrifice fly and an error. The Polar Bears mounted the game-winning five-run rally in the bottom of the seventh by piecing together four hits, an error and a walk against three different Tufts pitchers. With the bases loaded and one out, Tim McGarry was hit by a pitch to make it 7-4. Findley delivered a single through the left side to score two more runs and cut it to 7-6. Luke Regan tied the game with a run-scoring single and, after a walk to Buddy Shea loaded the bases again, Sam Canales ripped a single to left to lift the Polar Bears to an unlikely win.
Tufts had built its lead with a pair of three-run innings in the third and sixth. Sam Sager had three hits while Wade Hauser had two hits, a double and three RBI. Christian Sbily tossed a solid 5.2 innings, allowing one earned runs and striking out three before giving way to three relievers.
John Lefeber and Oliver Van Zant had two hits each for Bowdoin, while Findley had three RBI. Jay Loughlin earned the win with two innings of relief, allowing three earned runs.
Bowdoin rode senior starter Tim Welch to victory in game two, as the left-hander tossed six innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out seven. The Polar Bears scored twice on hits by Duncan Taylor and Cole DiRoberto in the second and tagged on an unearned run in the seventh and a run-scoring single by Jordan Edgett in the eighth.
Duncan Taylor had two hits for Bowdoin, which got three strong innings of relief from Henry Van Zant and Lefeber to seal the victory.
On Friday, starting pitcher Oliver Van Zant struck out 13 batters to lift Bowdoin to a key 5-3 win over Tufts in the opener at Pickard Field.
Van Zant, a junior, broke Bowdoin’s career strikeout record with his performance.
Van Zant (5-1) retired the final 12 batters he faced, including back-to-back strikeouts to finish the eighth frame. He allowed just four hits and no earned runs, while his 13 strikeouts were the fourth-most in a single game in school history and moved him past Bernard Johnson (187 strikeouts) and into first place on Bowdoin’s career list with 189.
Men’s tennis
Bowdoin cruised to its ninth consecutive win on Friday evening in an 8-1 decision over Colby.
The Polar Bears moved to 11-5 (7-1 NESCAC) and are ranked ninth nationally in the latest Division III poll. Unranked Colby fell to 12-6 (3- 4 NESCAC).
Bowdoin continued its recent run in doubles play, winning all three doubles pairings for the ninthstraight match. Sam King/Oscar Pena, Kyle Wolstencroft/ Doug Caplan and Alex Jacobs/Kent Winingham all earned wins at No. 1- 3, respectively.
The Polar Bears took the top three singles matches as Chris Lord, Noah Bragg and Nicholas Fenichell each won straight-set affairs. Winingham and Jacobs took hardfought wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles play for Bowdoin.
Softball
Needing one win to clinch a berth in the NESCAC Tournament, Bowdoin left little doubt with a pair of mercyrule wins over Bates on Sunday afternoon, 12-4 and 10-0.
The Polar Bears improved to 28-12 (8-4 NESCAC) and earned the second spot out of the NESCAC’s East Division for the upcoming conference tournament. Bowdoin will face the West’s top seed — Amherst — at Amherst on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the opening game of the doubleelimination championship. More details on coverage will be available later this week.
Bates ends its season with a record of 18-12 (5-7 NESCAC).
In the opener on Sunday, Bowdoin built a 6-0 lead and put the contest out of reach with a six-run sixth frame. Casey Correa had three hits, including a fourth-inning home run while Amy Hackett ripped a two-run home run in the fifth inning and reached base three times. Toni DaCampo, Hanna Wurgaft and Victoria Rusch also had two hits apiece. Tricia Thibodeau earned the win with six innings of work, scattering eight hits and allowing four earned runs.
After clinching the playoff bid in the opener, Bowdoin capped the day with a dominating 10-0 victory in the nightcap.
Nancy Walker got the win by tossing five innings of shutout ball with two strikeouts. Bowdoin scored all 10 of its runs in the first three innings as DaCampo went 4- for-4 with a home run and four RBI. Gen Barlow, Caroline Dewar and Hackett had two hits each in the win.
On Saturday, Bates kept its playoff hopes alive, defeating Bowdoin 4-2.
Bates starting pitcher Kristen Finn and Bowdoin starter Melissa DellaTorre swapped scoreless inning for scoreless inning through three, before the Bobcats got on the scoreboard with two runs in the fourth.
Bowdoin got a run back in the bottom of the inning. Finn walked DaCampo, who scored on a hit by Correa, a groundout by Wurgaft and an RBI single by Courtney Colantuno.
Bates put up two more runs in the top of the fifth for a 4-1 lead.
DellaTorre dropped to 14-7, going all seven innings and allowing four runs on seven hits and 10 walks.
Outdoor track
Bowdoin won five events, including two by senior Elsa Millett, at the New England Small College Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship Saturday at Bates.
In the team standings, Bowdoin finished fourth of 11 teams on the women’s side, while the men took fifth of 11 squads.
Millett led the way with a pair of NESCAC titles, in the 200-meter dash (25.41) and 400 (57.35).
Samuel Chick built on his first-place finish last week at the State Meet to claim the 400 hurdles crown (55.44), while Mason Moss won the javelin throw (172-03).
The men’s distance medley relay team of Matthew Hillard, Coby Horowitz, Matthew Gamache and Colin Fong also earned a victory in a track-record time of 10:19.98.
The women’s team boasted a boatload of third-place finishes on Saturday, led by Laura Peterson, who took the bronze in the long jump (17- 07.75) and triple jump (37- 07.50).
Erin Silva (pole vault, 11- 05.75), Anna Prohl (125-05), and Katherine Harmon (hammer throw, 158-55) all took third-place showings for the Polar Bears.
On the men’s side, Bowdoin’s 4 x 100 team of Rickey Larke, Lonnie Hackett, Matthew Gamache and Jarred Kennedy-Loving placed second in 43.41, while Bowdoin went 2-3 in the 1,500 thanks to Horowitz (second, 4:00.38) and Hillard (third, 4:00.66).
Chris Martin also posted a third-place finish in the triple jump (46-09.75).
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