BOWDOIN COLLEGE TACKLERS Henry Little (20) and Tyler MacNeil (45) bring down Amherst wide receiver Nick Widen in the second quarter on Saturday at Whittier Field. Closing in for the Polar Bears are Matthew Whalen (16) and Joe Gowetski (55), while Lord Jeffs player Hasani Figueroa (25) looks on. Amherst dropped Bowdoin to 0-2 with a 31-10 win.
BOWDOIN COLLEGE running back Nate Richam (29) tries to pull away from the tackle of Amherst’s John Callahan during a NESCAC football contest at Whittier Field in Brunswick on Saturday. The Polar Bears fell to the 2-0 Lord Jeffs, 31-10, in the team’s home opener. Bowdoin is now 0-2.
The Polar Bears fall to 0-2 on the season, while Amherst (2-0) tallied its 21st consecutive victory and 11th straight over Bowdoin.
The two teams traded possession in the opening five minutes before an interception by John Rak on the B-45 put the ball in Alex Berluti’s hands for a scoring drive. Berluti threw for 23 with an added 11 yards rushing, while Jack Hickey ran for 15 in the drive. Berluti found Nick Widen in the end zone with an 8-yard completion to score the day’s first points.
The Purple and White scored on their next possession as Berluti rattled of six completions on as many attempts, finishing with a 29-yard pass to Bo Berluti.
Henry Little intercepted Berluti early in the second quarter, setting up Bowdoin’s first scoring drive of the game. Noah Nelson marched the Polar Bears down the field and Andrew Sisti put up the team’s first points of the day with a 25- yard field goal.
Amherst tallied 17 more points before the Polar Bears found the end zone for their first touchdown of the season. Nelson connected with Nick Vailas for a 9-yard completion that made the game 31-10.
Bowdoin managed just 132 yards of total offense, while Amherst tallied 505. Berluti paced the trifecta of Amherst quarterbacks, going 20-of-26 with a pair of touchdowns. Nelson went just 15-of-31 for 123 yards. Vailas tallied four catches for 48 yards, including a team high 17-yard completion, and grabbed the touchdown pass.
Joe Gowetski and Nye Deskus each added eight tackles defensively for Bowdoin, while Rak led Amherst with four.
Bowdoin hosts Tufts on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Women’s soccer
MIT scored 10 minutes into the second half to hand Bowdoin its second loss of the season in a 1-0 game on Friday night in Cambridge, Mass.
The Polar Bears (6-2) had not registered a loss since an overtime setback to Amherst on Sept. 10. The Engineers (8-3) recorded their third consecutive 1-0 win.
The two teams traded opportunities in the opening half. Emily Berzolla clipped the post 20 minutes into play for MIT, while Morgen Gallagher found the crossbar 15 minutes later. Brigit Bergin’s shot in the final three minutes of the first half found its way past Lauren Ullmann, but her teammate was there to stop the shot and clear the ball.
Berzolla found the back of the net in the 54th minute, juking a Bowdoin defender and besting Rachel Stout for the game-winner.
Bowdoin continued to pressure for an equalizer, forcing Ullmann to make a save on a Talia Missan shot in the final two minutes. Julia Patterson’s header in the last minute missed high as the Engineers held on to win.
The Polar Bears held a slight 12-10 edge in shots and 6-2 advantage in corner kicks. Ullmann ended the day with six saves, while Stout tallied three for Bowdoin.
The Polar Bears return home for a 4 p.m. game on Wednesday against the University of Maine-Farmington.
Women’s volleyball
At Hartford, Conn., on Friday, Bowdoin finished off Trinity in straight sets (25- 19, 25-20, 25-19).
The team’s traded points in a back-and forth opening set. Bowdoin took a 20-18 lead late in frame, prompting a Trinity timeout. The Polar Bears went on a 5-1 run coming out of the timeout to clinch the first.
Trinity jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second before Bowdoin came back to tie it, 9-9. The Polar Bears climbed to a 17-14 advantage, but the Bantams tied it at 20-20. Bowdoin closed out the set with five straight points.
Bantams led early in the third, up 15-12, but the Polar Bears came back to tie the set at 17-17. Bowdoin finished the set on an 8-2 run to sweep the match. Sydney Salle finished the match with a block at the net to earn the Polar Bears their final point.
Michelle Albright and Caroline Flaharty each had nine kills for Bowdoin, while Rachel Underwood led the Bantams with 11. Erika Slaver added eight more kills for the Polar Bears. Katie Doherty led both teams with 24 digs. Quincy Leech had a match high 31 assists.
On Saturday, Bowdoin captured the final two sets for a 3-1 NESCAC win over Wesleyan.
The Polar Bears improved to 8-4 overall, 2-3 in the NESCAC.
Bowdoin scored the first five points of the first set and never looked back. Ahead 22-15, Bowdoin rallied three straight points off a kill, service ace and another kill to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Wesleyan responded in the second frame and went on a 5-0 run early to go ahead 11-5. The Polar Bears evened the score at 11-11, as the rest of the second set went back-and-forth. In all, the second set featured 13 ties and five lead changes. Down 25-24, a service error by Bowdoin followed by a kill and a service ace gave the Cardinals the 27-25 advantage to even the match at 1-1.
Bowdoin again jumped out to an early lead in the third set, going up 4-0, and never looked back. Wesleyan tied it at 10-10, but a 6-0 run by the visitors put them ahead for good. The Cardinals got within two, 23-21, but a kill from Sklaver followed by a Wesleyan error gave the Polar Bears a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth set, Wesleyan overcome an early 5-1 deficit and eventually went ahead 23-22. However, Bowdoin scored the final three points to claim the set and seal the match.
The Polar Bears return to the court Friday, visiting Middlebury at 8 p.m.
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