BRUNSWICK

It all started on Saturday when the Bowdoin field hockey team made its push for the ultimate goal of a national title, blanking Mt. Holyoke 4-0 to advance to the quarterfinal round against Skidmore. The Polar Bears dominated the field of play, firing 13 shots on Lyons goaltender Liz Dicesare while only allowing one shot on net the entire game.

Colleen Finnerty (assisted by Kim Kahnweiler and Kimmy Ganong), Ganong (assisted Rachel Kennedy), Kennedy (assisted by Liz Znamierowski) and Adrienne O’Donnell (assisted by Mettler Growney) were the goal scorers for the Polar Bears en route to the shutout.

Nail-biter

Sunday was a much different story for Bowdoin (18-2). After the Skidmore Thoroughbreds (18-4), defeated FDU-Florham 5-1 on Saturday, Sunday’s match-up was expected to be a much tougher battle for the Bears … and it was. It wasn’t until 11:13 into overtime that Kennedy took matters into her own hands with no one else but the goalie in her path to propel the Polar Bears into the Final Four with a 2-1 victory.

“I think our defensive unit in overtime did a terrific job,” Bowdoin head coach Nicky Pearson said after the game. “When they got the call they outletted that pass straight to Rachel and she had that one-on-one with the goalie and just executed beautifully.”

Most in attendance will remember Kennedy’s gamewinning goal, but may not remember how close the Thoroughbred were to ending it in their favor with just minutes left in the second half. Melanie Webb fired a shot on a wide-open net, but was blocked by Finnerty on the goal line. The same pressure occurred in overtime when Skidmore tallied five penalty corners with four shots in a two-minute span, but were unable to come up with the game-winner. Kennedy said the defensive unit her team has is one that can handle such pressure, but recognizes that the entire team is involved during the play.

“I think it’s harder for the forwards and the midfielders who are on the line watching it,” she said. “But, we have such a great defensive unit, I just knew that if there was going to be an opportunity where they were going to block it up and we had it, then we needed to go back and score right away.”

The play unfolded exactly how Kennedy had hoped, as Finnerty took no time clearing a ball up field right at Kennedy’s stick and behind the Thoroughbreds defense at midfield. With Kennedy staring down the goalie she had only one move that could end the game. Though Skidmore’s netminder Amy Beck put her off her path, Beck was unable to block the follow up.

“I saw that Skidmore played their offensive corners with all their players on the circle, which means that the three players that we had back on the 50 were going to be wide open if we got the ball,” Finnerty said. “As soon as we got the call coming out of the circle I wanted to get the ball up as soon as possible to our forwards who are capable of scoring.”

“I knew Colleen was going to be looking for a big ball and when I saw the referee’s hand come up, I just took off,” Kennedy said. “I saw just the goalie and I, and I just knew the ball had to go in the back of the net.”

It wasn’t until midway through the second half that the Polar Bears got on the board as they trailed the Thoroughbreds 1-0 up until that point. Skidmore had appeared to set the tone just 5:05 into the game when Dani DeGregory fired a shot past Bowdoin goalie Hannah Gartner, but the Polar Bears came out after the first half and took control.

“I thought it was a quality game on both sides,” Thoroughbreds coach Beth Hallenbeck said. “It was obviously hard fought and I thought we each had some momentum swings throughout the game. I certainly thought we had some quality chances at the end of the game and in the overtime. It didn’t go our way today, but I give a lot of credit to Bowdoin, I thought they turned away some of our good shots and played solid defense themselves.”

Bowdoin finally tied the game with 13:36 remaining in the second half when Kennedy laced a pass from Pam Herter into the cage after nearly five shots that were blocked by Beck and numerous more missing just wide of the net.

It was a game that involved everyone on the field and Pearson said that both sides of the ball worked well together to make the victory happen.

“It was a complete team effort,” she said. “We had defensive saves to great goalkeeping saves and I thought our defense played their aerials really well. Our midfield did well in the transition, feeding the ball up to our forwards. Skidmore is an excellent team and it was just a great game between two very talented teams.”

With the win Bowdoin will travel to Lexington, Va., to take part in the NCAA Field Hockey Division III Final Four, starting this Saturday with Salisbury who edged Wellesley 1-0 on Sunday.

Bowdoin defeated Salisbury just one year ago when the Polar Bears took home their fourth national title in seven years. The winner of the match will go on to the final round to face the winner of The College of New Jersey verses Middlebury.