The Bowdoin College women’s ice hockey team scored a goal in each period en route to 3-0 New England Small College Athletic Conference victory over visiting Williams on Friday night.
Marissa Fichter put Bowdoin on the board 9:25 into the opening period. Katie Leininger dug the puck off the left boards and pushed a short pass to Fichter, who skated towards the dot. The sophomore wristed a shot blocker side, top shelf, to give the Polar Bears an early 1-0 lead.
The Ephs came out firing in the opening minutes of the second period, forcing Harpswell native Kerri St. Denis to make several key saves. With two Williams players skating in on net, Hallie Whitmore put a quick one-touch towards the left post. St. Denis turned the puck away at the final second with a sliding pad save.
Jess Bowen doubled Bowdoin’s lead with a breakthrough solo effort from the deep right corner of Eph territory. Bowen skated through several Williams defenders along the goal line before firing off a no-angle shot inside the far post. The puck danced behind Marissa Anderson with 6:05 remaining.
Julie Dachille tallied a third period short-handed goal for the Polar Bears midway through the frame.
St. Denis and the Bowdoin defense stood strong for nearly four minutes as the Ephs pulled Anderson in favor of an extra skater. St. Denis earned her second career shutout behind a 24- save performance. Anderson made 17 stops in net through 56:22 minutes of action.
The Ephs were 0-for-3 on the power play, while Bowdoin was 0-for-1 and tallied one short handed goal.
On Saturday, Williams scored in the final 30 seconds to spoil a late Bowdoin rally for a 2-1 victory.
The Polar Bears (7-2-2, 2-1-1 NESCAC) suffered their first conference loss of the season. The Ephs climbed to 6-4 (4-2 NESCAC) after forcing the series split.
Down 1-0 in the third period, Katie Leininger tipped home a shot from Jill Rathke to tie the game.
But, Williams scored the winner when Abby Brustad dug the puck out of the right corner and found Sarah Lehman near the crease.
The Polar Bears faceoff against Connecticut College on Thursday at 4 p.m. in a Frozen Fenway matchup.
Women’s basketball
At Lewiston on Saturday, Bowdoin dominated the fourth quarter to dispatch Bates, 70-58 at Alumni Gymnasium.
The 17th-ranked Polar Bears completed a season sweep of the Bobcats to improve to 11-2 (1-1 NESCAC). The Bobcats fell to 4-9 (1-1 NESCAC).
The Bobcats, who lost by 33 points to the Polar Bears a month ago in Brunswick, were much more competitive in the teams’ second meeting. The teams were tied at 35 at halftime and Bowdoin held a slim 50-48 lead heading into the final quarter.
Bowdoin opened the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run as Lydia Caputi sparked the run with six points to give the visitors at 60-50 lead with 6:17 remaining. Cordelia Stewart scored eight points in the final quarter to help seal the win for Bowdoin.
Caputi led Bowdoin with 13 points while Kate Kerrigan finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Stewart had 10 points, while Ally Silfen had eight rebounds. Taylor Choate and Marle Curle had five assists apiece.
Freeport native Nina Davenport had a game-high 18 points for Bates.
Bowdoin held a 45-33 edge in rebounding and converted 12 second-chance points. The Polar Bears also forced 20 Bates turnovers and turned them into 26 points offensively in the win.
On Friday, Bowdoin met up with top-ranked Tufts and came up a big short in a 46-43 NESCAC setback at Medford, Mass.
The Jumbos remained unbeaten at 11-0 (1-0 NESCAC).
Bowdoin jumped to a quick start, grabbing a 17-11 lead in the first quarter behind seven points from Abigail Kelly.
Tufts answered with a strong second quarter and used a late 7-0 run before halftime, capped by a Sadie Otley 3-pointer, to tie the game 25-25 at intermission.
Both teams struggled from the field in the third quarter, combining for just 14 points. Tufts carried a 34-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
Bowdoin opened the final period on a 10-1 run, sparked by two more Kelly treys, to take a 40-35 edge with 6:22 remaining. But, Tufts rallied at the free-throw line, scoring four consecutive points from the stripe to tie the game at 42-42 with 2:53 to go.
Following a missed jumper by Bowdoin, Tufts got a huge 3-pointer from Melissa Baptista with 2:04 on the clock to take a 45-42 advantage. A desperation 3- pointer missed at the buzzer as the top-ranked Jumbos escaped with the win.
Kelly led all players with 21 points, including five treys. Lauren Dillon paced Tufts with 11 points.
Bowdoin is off until this upcoming Sunday when it travels to play at Williams at 3 p.m.
Men’s hockey
Against Hamilton on Saturday, Bowdoin fell to the only unbeaten collegiate hockey team, 6-3.
The ninth-ranked Continentals are 10-0-2 (5-0-2 NESCAC) and held the Polar Bears (6-6-0, 3-5-0 NESCAC) scoreless until the third period.
Brandon Willett tallied a hat trick for Hamilton, including goals in each of the first two periods, to give the hosts a 2-0 lead 40 minutes into action. His capped the hat trick with an emptynetter in the final seconds. The teams combined for seven goals in the final period.
Joseph Lace put Bowdoin within one, trimming the score to 2-1, 1:47 into the third period.
Hamilton put away backto back goals within two minutes to push its lead to 4- 1 less than 10 minutes into the period.
Brendan Conroy doubled the Polar Bears score tally with a mark at 8:51 with helpers from Kendall Culbertson and Matthew Lison.
Ian Nichols put another goal away for the Continentals before Thomas Dunleavy capped Bowdoin’s scoring. Willett’s empty netter with 38 seconds remaining sealed the win for Hamilton.
Peter Cronin made 26 stops in net for the Polar Bears. Evan Buitenhuis had 27 saves for Hamilton. Bowdoin went 0-for-2 on the power play. The Continentals were 1-for-4.
On Friday at Amherst, the Polar Bears dropped a 7-3 decision to the Lord Jeffs (6- 3-1, 2-3-1 NESCAC).
Bowdoin jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Chris Wallace and Sebastian Foster scored 30- seconds apart in the first period.
But, Amherst battled back, scoring six unanswered goals, including four in the second period.
Mitch Barrington tallied for Bowdoin in the third period.
Cronin had 22 saves in the loss, while Amherst netminder Adam Ellison had 20 stops.
Bowdoin travels to the University of New England for a noon game on Tuesday afternoon.
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