It was certainly a streaky game at Ryan Field on Saturday afternoon as the Polar Bears hosted top-ranked Middlebury in New England Small College Athletic Conference action. The undefeated visitors kept throwing goals at Bowdoin, but with each scoring streak, there was a proper response.
The final one came in overtime, where Bowdoin rebounded from a late equalizer and gained possession off the draw-control to begin the frame. From there, ball movement led to a foul and a free-position chance led to the game winner.
“We had been playing as a full team the entire 60 minutes,” Glenn said. “We’d been working as a team all year. Just wanted to finish it out.”
After scoring two late goals to even the score at the end of the first half, No. 15 Bowdoin (6-1, 3-1 NESCAC) found itself down 9-6 very quickly in the second. No. 1 Middlebury (5-1, 3-1 NESCAC) goals from Sara DiCenso, Hollis Perticone and Henley Hall silenced the home fans and forced a Bowdoin timeout.
It was there the Polar Bears made sure the next scoring streak would be theirs.
Just under five minutes after the stoppage, Glenn scored her first goal of the day on an unassisted take. Then, at 12:01 and 11:35, Natalie Rudin and Allison Williams went back-to-back to tie the score at 9-9. When Glenn scored again at 8:22 to give Bowdoin the lead, it was Middlebury that needed a timeout to slow things down.
“This year, we’ve been talking a lot about how lacrosse is played in streaks,” Glenn said. “Maybe the other team will get a streak of two and then we’re going to come back — the next streak is ours. That’s what we were talking about most of the game. If they got the ball, the next one’s our streak and we’ll get goals after that.”
“Obviously lacrosse is a big game of momentum,” Bowdoin coach Liz Grote said. “We’ve been talking about if momentum starts to turn, we need to turn it back in our favor. I think we probably did that three times today.”
The Polar Bears almost had the upset win in the bag until one final spell of possession in the final minute. Henley Hall earned a free-position try for Middlebury with 20 seconds left on the clock, but her shot sailed over the cage. The Panthers retained the ball and gave Perticone one last shot at an equalizer. She was fouled and sunk the ensuing free-position shot with 2.2 seconds left, sending the game into overtime.
All Bowdoin could do was stick to its plan.
“Just playing our game and playing to our standard,” Grote said of the pre-overtime talk. “Really making good decisions is what it was going to be all about.”
Glenn made one of the best decisions of the day when she sunk the game-winner and completed her hat trick at 4:42.
One step behind
Middlebury’s Emma McDonagh opened the scoring just two and a half minutes into the game and for the rest of the first half, Bowdoin was a step behind the Panthers. Natalie Rudin equalized on a free-position shot four minutes later before Mary O’Connell took the lead right back. The two sides exchanged goals again before the Polar Bears were down 4-2 midway through the frame.
A Hannah Hirschfield goal was answered by McDonagh at 5:18, but then Bowdoin scored three of the final four goals of the half to make it 6-6 heading into the break. One was a Kelsey Gallagher goal with just 12 seconds to go.
Everyone expected this type of game.
“In the past, we’ve gone in thinking, ‘Oh, it’s Midd, we have to prepare more,’” Glenn said. “This year we were just like ‘We’re going to focus more on ourselves as a team. Be positive, go into it, have fun.’ Really, we just focused on Bowdoin lacrosse — stayed playing at a Bowdoin standard.”
“Preparing was interesting because it was our third game in four days,” Grote said. “ We were preparing for one game, preparing for the next. Had one day to prepare for them, really. Knew a couple offensive sets they ran, but really it was about us. It was about our Bowdoin lacrosse and how we play.”
Gallagher and Rudin each finished with a pair of goals for Bowdoin, while Hirschfield notched two assists. Perticone scored on three of her five shots for Middlebury and O’Connell added four dimes to her two scores.
The Polar Bears forced 10 saves on Kate Furber in net and Kayli Weiss blocked 14 on the other end.
Bowdoin, already looking ahead, will have a week to sit on its 17- game- win-streak snapping victory before it hosts No. 7 Trinity next Saturday at noon.
“ It feels really good,” Glenn said. “We’re excited to get back out there for our next game.”
“It helps them believe in themselves even more,” Grote said. “They know we can still continue to grow as a team. Just a lot to look forward to.”
Bowdoin 11,
Middlebury 10, OT
At Ryan Field in Brunswick
Middlebury— 6 4 0 — 10
Bowdoin — 6 4 1 — 11
Goals — (M) Hollis Perticone 3,
Mary O’Connell 2, Emma McDonagh
2, Henley Hall 1, Bea Eppier 1, Sara
DiCenso 1; (B) Annie Glenn 3, Kelsey
Gallagher 2, Natalie Rudin 2, Sophia
Lubrano 1, Allison Williams 1, Hannah Hirshfield 1, Kara Finnerty 1.
Assists — (M) Mary O’Connell 4; (B)
Hannah Hirschfield 2, Natalie Rudin
1, Allison Williams 1, Kara Finnerty 1.
Saves — (M) Kate Furber 11; (B)
Kayli Weiss 4.
Draw-conrols — Bowdoin 13, Middlebury 10.
Records — Bowdoin 5-1; Middlebury
6-1.
Up next for the Polar Bears — Saturday at home against Trinity, Noon.
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