BOWDOIN COLLEGE women’s soccer player Kierten Turner (24) takes a shot on goal during the Polar Bears’ 4-0 victory over Tufts in a NESCAC quarterfinal contest on Pickard Field in Brunswick on Saturday.
The second-ranked Polar Bears (15- 1) will host the NESCAC semifinals and championship next weekend at Ryan Field. Bowdoin will face Tufts in one semifinal match at 11 a.m. Saturday, while Middlebury will play Trinity at 1:30 p.m. The winners will play on Sunday at noon in the NESCAC championship match. There will be no admission for any of the three contests next weekend.
The Continentals saw their season come to an end at 6-10 overall after receiving the eighth place seed in the NESCAC following a tie-breaker between themselves, Wesleyan and Connecticut College.
Rachel Kennedy continued her current scoring trend by putting the Polar Bears ahead 1-0 less than one minute into the contest. Making a move to collect the ball on Hamilton’s stroke line, Kennedy flipped a shot over a diving Victoria Trentini for the early lead.
The Polar Bears went up 2-0 off another Kennedy goal at close range after Adrienne O’Donnell worked the ball the length of the sideline and cut low towards net. Receiving the pass, once again sitting dead center in the circle, Kennedy lost her defender with a quick spin move and flick that slipped between Trentini’s legs.
Just three minutes later O’Donnell picked up her first goal of the night coming straight down the field and drawing the goalie out before pulling right and pushing home a solid shot on the run.
Bowdoin’s offense continued to the pressure the Continentals as Mettler Growney carried the ball into Hamilton’s circle before Kimmy Ganong stepped in and one-timed it for the fourth goal of the half.
The Continentals closed out the final few minutes of play with increased attack in the Polar Bears circle. Casey Brown took and shot that forced a save by Hannah Gartner, quickly followed by a corner opportunity for the Continentals.
O’Donnell tallied her second of the game with a perfectly-timed reverse stick chip from the right side off a pass from Emily Simonton. Pam Herter rounded out the day’s scoring as she finished off a crossed pass from Liz Znamierowski, who worked the ball of the length of the right side before connecting with Herter on the opposite post.
Women’s soccer
The Polar Bears punched their ticket to the NESCAC semifinals after shutting out Tufts, 4-0 in the program’s first ever postseason win over the Jumbos.
Bowdoin (11-3) was 0-2-2 against the Jumbos (7-6-2) in its previous four NESCAC post-season meetings. Bowdoin completed the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the conference, the team’s highest finish since 2003, and earned a second game against seventh seeded Tufts. The Jumbos returned to Brunswick just five days after closing out the regular season against Bowdoin on Tuesday afternoon, with the Polar Bears taking the 3-1 victory.
Tufts challenged Bowdoin goalie Bridget McCarthy minutes into the game, forcing the junior keeper to make a play on Robin Estus under five minutes in.
The Polar Bears responded with their first goal of the game at 16 minutes off the foot of Abby Einwag. Making a quick turnaround touch, pushing the ball between a defender’s legs, Einwag booted a shot from the top of the box to the left corner.
Amanda Kinneston gave the Polar Bears a bit of breathing room just under 15 minutes into the second half, finishing off a feed from Jamie Hofstetter.
Hofstetter got a goal of her own, as she successfully converted on a penalty kick in the 76th minute. Bowdoin finished out the day with one final goal with just 46 seconds remaining. Jenna DiCicco fired a shot on goal, with teammate Julia Bottone scoring on the rebound.
Bowdoin faces Connecticut College at 1:30 p.m. in the NESCAC semifinals this upcoming Saturday, hosted by Williams. The Camels held seed and defeated Trinity by a 3-0 margin to advance.
Men’s soccer
A late second-half goal by Sam White lifted Bowdoin to a 2-1 upset victory over Williams in NESCAC quarterfinal action on Saturday afternoon.
The win was the Polar Bears’ (9-6-1) first postseason victory over the Ephs (8-6-2) in six postseason matchups dating back to 1988, and earned them their second straight trip to the NESCAC semifinals.
Bowdoin earned its initial advantage early in the second half, as Nabil Odulate pounced on a wayward first touch from an Eph defender following a corner and ripped a shot into the side netting for his first goal of the year.
The Ephs responded quickly, evening the score just over four minutes later. Malcolm Moutenot beat his defender and drove straight to the goal line before sending a pass back across the goal mouth to Matt Muralles, who one-timed a shot over keeper Stevie Van Siclen.
From that point on, most of the game’s chances belonged to Bowdoin, with dominant play coming from midfielder Hunter Miller and forward Connor Keefe deep in Williams territory. In all, the Polar Bears forced Christian Alcorn to make four saves, including back-to-back stops with six minutes left to play.
After controlling play for much of the second half, White gave the Polar Bears their second lead of the day with a curling shot into the left corner from 25-yards out in the 79th minute.
The Polar Bears advanced to their second straight semifinal, hosted by Amherst, to face Middlebury at 11 a.m. next Saturday.
Football
Grant DeWald snuck home a 25- yard field goal with 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter to lift Bates to a 10-7 win over Bowdoin on a rainy and cold afternoon at Whittier Field on Saturday.
With the win, the Bobcats (3-4) won their 10th CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) championship and retains the trophy they have held since 2012. The Polar Bears fell to 2-5 with their third consecutive loss.
Bowdoin visits Colby in its regularseason and Dave Caputi’s coaching finale this upcoming Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
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