BRUNSWICK — With snow still on the ground throughout the Midcoast, the Bowdoin College spring sports season is set to kick off on Saturday as the Polar Bear men’s and women’s lacrosse teams begin their season.
The Bowdoin men host Middlebury at 1 p.m. on Whittier Field.
Last year, the Polar Bears opened the season with a 5-1 record, but struggled down the stretch and missed out on the NESCAC postseason.
Sophomore defender Henry Savage received multiple postseason honors from the NESCAC, NEILA and USILA. In 13 games of action, Savage had 17 caused turnovers and 32 ground balls. Senior Jeff Powers led the team with 24 goals, followed closely by Jake Crossman with 22. Will Murtagh was the team leader in assists, dishing out 14.
Bowdoin had a pair of conference victories in 2019, knocking off Connecticut College in the season opener and downing Hamilton in mid-March.
While Bowdoin graduated its leading scorer, the Polar Bears return the heft of their offensive firepower from last year. Six returners had double-digit goal tallies last season and Murtagh led the way in assists. Pat Broughton will take control of faceoff duties after going 68-of-149 last year with 35 ground balls.
Defensively, Savage will anchor the team after the graduation of Ryan Monahan. Ryan Donlan returns after having 19 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers in a sophomore season where he started every game.
The Polar Bears have eight home games on the schedule for 2020,. Bowdoin has four home games in March, including NESCAC matchups with Williams (March 14) and Amherst (March 28). The Polar Bears close out their home schedule with a trio of consecutive games against Trinity (April 4), Colby (April 8) and Whittier (April 11).
Bowdoin finishes on the road, including games at Connecticut College (April 18) and Tufts (April 22).
Women’s lacrosse
The Polar Bears face a difficult task in their Saturday opener, visiting defending Division III national champion Middlebury at noon. Bowdoin opens the season as the No. 13 team in the nation, with the Panthers ranked No. 1.
After a 4-4 record to begin the the 2019 season, the Polar Bears found their footing and closed out the regular season on a 5-2 run to earn the No. 5 in the NESCAC playoffs. Despite falling to Amherst in the quarterfinal, the Polar Bears earned an NCAA at-large bid and toppled host William Smith in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Polar Bears saw their season come to an end at the hands of eventual national champion Middlebury in the third round. Four Polar Bears were named All-NESCAC and All-American selections following the conclusion of the season.
The Polar Bears return their top six scorers from last season, including First Team All-Americans Katie Miller and Eliza Denious. Rising seniors Kara Finnerty (midfield) and Caroline Maxwell (defense) were both All-American selections last year as well. Fiona Bundy made an immediate impact in her first season in the Bowdoin lineup, ranking second on the team with 48 goals and 63 total points.
Bowdoin returns home for a pair of home contests against Plymouth State and Hamilton next week. The team hosts three games in four days from March 21-24, as Wesleyan, Roger Williams and the University of New England come to Brunswick.
The Polar Bears have three home games in April with Bates to begin the month on the first, and Connecticut College (April 18) and Tufts (April 22) to close out the regular season.
Squash
First-year head coach Theo Woodward has been named the New England Small College Athletic Conference Men’s Squash Coach of the Year in honors announced by the conference office on Thursday.
Woodward, who is the first Bowdoin coach to earn the award, was joined in league honors by first-years Deven Kanwal (First Team Men’s Squash) and Caroline Glaser (Second Team Women’s Squash).
Kanwal played at the top position for the Polar Bear men in his debut campaign, racking up 10 wins at the highest level of collegiate squash as a first-year. One of four rookies on the NESCAC First Team, he is Bowdoin’s first First Team All-NESCAC performer since Ian Squiers earned the recognition in 2018.
Glaser, also a first year, posted a fantastic rookie campaign for the Polar Bear women, playing at the No. 1 spot and collecting six victories against the nation’s top competition. She is Bowdoin’s first All-Conference honoree since 2017.
In his first season as head coach of the Bowdoin men’s and women’s squash teams, Woodward led the Polar Bear men to their first double-digit win season since 2014. At 10-8 entering CSA Nationals this weekend, Bowdoin is poised to have its first winning season since 2013 and placed fifth at the 2020 NESCAC Championship, the program’s best showing at the conference tournament since 2010.
Swimming & Diving
Six members of the Bowdoin women’s swimming & diving team have earned qualification for the NCAA Division III Championship March 18-21 in Greensboro, N.C.
Mary Laurita qualified individually in the 100 butterfly for the Polar Bears and also qualified as part of three other relay teams for Bowdoin. The 200 free relay team (Laurita, Amanda Banasiak, Marshall Lowery, Cassandra Maroney), the 200 medley relay (Lowery, Emilie Grand’Pierre, Laurita, Banasiak) and the 400 medley relay team (Lowery, Anna Roberts, Laurita, Banasiak) also reached qualifying standards.
In addition to their qualified events, Laurita will also swim the 50 and 100 free, Roberts will compete in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley, and Lowery will swim in the 100 backstroke. The team will also compete in the 400 and 800 free relays.
Nordic skiing
Bowdoin will look to cap a sensational EISA campaign this weekend at the NCAA East Regional hosted at the Rikert Nordic Center in Middlebury, Vermont.
The Polar Bears have been on fire from the start of the campaign, placing fourth in a pair of January carnivals before consistently taking third throughout February at the Colby, Bates and Williams Carnivals. Bowdoin retained the Chummy Broomhall Cup at the Maine State Championship last weekend in its final tune-up before the NCAA Regional at Middlebury.
With numerous personal-bests and program-record finishes under their belts, the Polar Bears appear poised to make a run at their best-ever finish at regionals. Bowdoin placed fourth at last year’s NCAA Regional hosted at Black Mountain, the best-ever finish for the program at the EISA Championship.
Entering the NCAA Regional weekend, Bowdoin has four athletes in line to receive NCAA Championship bids. Elliot Ketchel, Christian Gostout, Renae Anderson and Gabrielle Vandendries are in good shape heading to Middlebury this weekend with Peter Moore also in contention for a trip.
Action begins at 10 a.m. on Friday morning with the Women’s 5K Freestyle (individual start) followed by the Men’s 10K at 11:30 a.m. The Carnival continues on Saturday with the Women’s 15K Classic (mass start) at 10 a.m. with the Men’s 20K Classic (mass start) scheduled for noon.
The NCAA Championship is scheduled to begin March 12 at Crosscut Mountain in Bozeman, Montana.
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