The Polar Bears (22-1) continued their historic NESCAC tournament run, advancing to the conference semifinals for the 18th consecutive season, every year of the championship. The Ephs finished the year with a record of 12-13.
After the teams traded early baskets, Bowdoin closed out the first quarter on an 18-0 run, leading Williams 22-4 after one period. Bowdoin’s 22 points tied the NESCAC tournament record for points in a single quarter.
The Polar Bears held Williams scoreless for almost eight minutes, which included forcing 16 first-half turnovers, and netting 18 points from Williams’ mishaps. Back-to-back made 3-pointers from Lauren Petit and Lydia Caputi sparked Morrell Gymnasium during the big Bowdoin run.
A 7-0 surge by the Ephs brought Williams back to within 20, 36-16, midway through the second quarter. Kate Kerrigan hit a jump shot with little time left in the half, giving the hosts a 41-18 lead at the break.
Bowdoin saw its lead increase to as many as 42 points in second half on its way to the victory.
Kerrigan led the way in scoring for Bowdoin with 16 points. She also had five rebounds and four assists. The Polar Bears added 36 points from their bench, including nine from Hannah Graham, and eight apiece from Maddie Hasson and Annie Maher. Bowdoin forced 29 turnovers (17 steals), converting those into 31 points.
Kristin Fechtelkotter (six points and six rebounds) and Lydia Zaleski (six points and four rebounds) led the way for the Ephs.
The Polar Bears advance to the NESCAC semifinals to play No. 3 Tufts University at Amherst. Game times will be announced later today.
Men’s basketball
Josh Chery converted a layup with three seconds to play to give top-seeded Amherst a comeback 71-70 win over Bowdoin in the NESCAC quarterfinals Saturday afternoon.
In a game that featured 16 lead changes, the last helped Amherst improve to 17-8 and reach the NESCAC semifinals for the seventh time in eight years. The Mammoths will meet Wesleyan in the semifinals next weekend.
The Polar Bears finished their year with a record of 15-9.
Jack Simonds had the hot hand in the opening period, scoring 21 of Bowdoin’s 36 first-half points. He shot an impressive 8-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-6 from downtown in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Mammoths went down by as many as 10 in the first half, but climbed back multiple times to keep it within reach. Johnny McCarthy capped the half with a jumper for the hosts, giving them a 37-36 lead at the break.
The second half began with a 10-0 run by Bowdoin, erasing Amherst’s 37-36 halftime lead and putting the Polar Bears ahead, 46-37.
Amherst continued to cut the lead to as little as two, but eventually fell back by double digits, 56-45, with 10 minutes left in the half.
Amherst went on another run to cut Bowdoin’s lead to three, capped off by a McCarthy breakaway dunk to make the score 56-53. McCarthy countered another
Bowdoin basket with a wide open trey to keep the deficit at two, and Michael Riopel tied the game again at 58 on a driving layup with 4:30 left to play in the game.
On a broken play, McCarthy sunk a deep 3- pointer to put the Mammoths up by a point, and they increased their lead to 69-65 before Liam Farley’s corner 3-pointer brought Bowdoin to within one. A pair of free throws by Zavier Rucker on the next possession gave the Polar Bears a 70-69 lead before Chery was able to bully his way through the lane to lay the ball in and score the game-winner.
Simonds was outstanding for Bowdoin, finishing with a game-high 25 points with seven rebounds, including five 3-pointers. Three other Polar Bears saw double digits, led by 11 apiece from Rucker and Farley. Hugh O’Neil ended with 10 points.
Women’s hockey
Bowdoin ended the regular season with a 4-1 victory over Trinity on Saturday afternoon in Watson Arena. The Polar Bears also won on Friday against Trinity, 3-0.
The Polar Bears climbed to 12-8-3 (6-7-3 NESCAC) and will enter the NESCAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed.
Bowdoin goaltender Kerri St. Denis had a stellar weekend, turning aside 55 of 56 shots faced.
Offensively, Julie Dachille scored all three goals in Friday’s win, and added the first goal on Saturday. Bowdoin also received goals from Brooke Solomon, Marissa Fichter and Tala Glass.
The Polar Bears will travel to No. 4 Hamilton for a quarterfinal on Saturday.
Men’s hockey
Bowdoin saw its season come to an end after a pair of NESCAC setbacks over the weekend.
The Polar Bears (8-16 overall, 5-13 NESCAC) fell to Tufts, 4-2 on Friday.
Matthew Lison and Ronnie Lestan scored two minutes apart for a 2-1 Bowdoin lead.
But the Jumbos rallied on two late goals to come out on top.
Alex Zafonte had 30 saves in the loss.
On Saturday, Bowdoin was defeated by Connecticut College, 7-3.
Coby Todesco, Thomas Dunleavy and Seth Cooper had a goal each for the Polar Bears, while Erik Wurman and Peter Cronin combined on 24 saves.
Men’s indoor track
Bowdoin posted numerous top-five finishes in taking sixth at the New England Division III Championship Saturday at Middlebury College.
The Polar Bears totaled 60 points, exceeding their point total from last year’s championship when they placed fifth overall (56).
Yaw Sekyere broke the school record in taking third overall in the 60-meter dash (6.96). John Pietro took second overall in the shot put at the championship with a toss of 51-05.75.
John Kennealy was the runner-up in the 600, finishing in 1:22.28. Brian Greenberg took third in the triple jump (46-09) and Sean Mac- Donald placed third in the 3,000 (8:27.60).
Conor Donahue placed fourth in the 800 (1:55.41), and Joseph Staudt earned fourth in the 60 hurdles (8.47).
Bowdoin’s DMR team of Andrew McGowan, Stevie Upton, Lucas Ostertag-Hill and Ben Torda was the top relay team for the Polar Bears, placing second in a time of 10:23.05.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with the Maine Open at University of Southern Maine.
Women’s indoor track
Bowdoin posted a fantastic fifth-place finish at the New England Division III Championship hosted by Springfield College on Saturday.
The Polar Bears totaled 43 points to earn their best finish at New England D-III’s since taking fifth place in 2014.
Sarah Kelley claimed the New England Division III Championship in the mile, winning the race in a time of 4:54.48, the second-fastest time in school history, trailing only Joan Benoit Samuelson’s school record 4:53.
Caroline Shipley had a personal-best in the 1,000 (third, 3:00.15) as did Julia O’Rourke in the 5,000 (fifth, 18:02.87).
Claire Traum took fourth-place in the 600 (1:38.44), while Samantha Schaefer (8.04) and Brittney McKinley (8.05) went 6-7 with personal-bests in the 60 dash. The duo also recorded top-10 finishes in the 200.
The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday with the Maine Open at the University of Southern Maine.
Nordic skiing
The Polar Bears continued their strong season with a fifth-place finish among Nordic teams at the Williams Carnival.
Warm spring-like conditions made for difficult racing in Friday’s 5/10K classic. Elliot Ketchel finished ninth, followed by Christian Gostout (20th), and Sean Cork (34th). Sam Shaheen posted a personal-best classic finish in 35th.
On the women’s side, Renae Anderson led the way in 14th. Gabrielle Vandendries (19th) and Ellie Hands (38th) rounded out the top three.
Temperatures dropped for Saturday’s skate, resulting in icy fast conditions. The originally planned sprint race was not held due to snow loss, resulting in an unusual 3.8K skate prologue.
Ketchel posted a best-ever finish for a first year, finishing sixth, topping the mark set by Vandendries the previous weekend. Cork skated a personal-best in 22nd and Jacob Adicoff finished 29th. Gostout finished right behind his teammate, resulting in four men’s skiers earning NCAA qualifying points.
Anderson led the way for the women in 18th, followed by Vandendries with a skate PR in 22nd and Lily Johnston in 30th.
Bowdoin heads to the Middlebury Carnival this weekend. The event doubles as the NCAA Regionals.
Women’s squash
Bowdoin came up just short in its pursuit of the Epps Cup at the College Squash Team Nationals on Sunday at Harvard, falling to William Smith in the finals 5-4.
In a match that came down to the No. 1 position, the Herons edged the Polar Bears, who finished their year with a record of 8-12, taking 26th overall in the country.
Natasha Belsky got Bowdoin on the board with a 3-1 win at No. 6 (11-2, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9), but William Smith held a 2-1 lead after the initial wave of matches.
Lex Horwitz evened the team score at 2-2 with a 3-2 win at No. 3 (11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8). William Smith answered with a pair of quick wins to take a 4-2 overall lead.
Bowdoin bounced back thanks to victories from Tully Ross at No. 2 (11-9, 11-2, 11-1), and knotted the score at 4-4 thanks to a 3-0 sweep from Diya Chopra (11-4, 12- 10, 11-3).
It came down to the final match at the No. 1 position where Gabrielle Fraser of William Smith edged Bowdoin’s Lindsey Bindra in a 3- 1 decision (11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11- 1).
Bowdoin advanced to the final with a pair of wins.
On Friday, the Polar Bears cruised to a 9-0 win over Georgetown, sweeping all six positions.
In the semifinals, Bowdoin rolled to a 7-2 victory over Mount Holyoke.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less