Bowdoin College Captures Division III Title

Polar Bears complete seventh perfect season in Division III history

Nov. 17, 2007

By Todd Thorpe

Special to CSTV.com

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - It's a 10-hour bus ride from the campus of Ursinus (Pa.) College back to the campus of Bowdoin (Me.) College.

That would have been a long time to agonize over what it would have felt like to losing the NCAA Division III Field Hockey national championship to their archrival.

So despite falling behind in the first half and despite allowing three goals after giving up just three goals all season, the No. 1-ranked Polar Bears pressed forward, scoring late in the half to tie it and then scoring the first two goals of the second half to post an exciting 4-3 victory over Middlebury (Vt.) College in the national title game Saturday afternoon.

"I think it's pretty great," said Bowdoin junior Lindsay McNamara about taking that long trip home with the national championship trophy in tow. "This is the first national championship that Bowdoin College has ever won, so it's a good feeling."

For Bowdoin (20-0), which had lost in the national semifinals the past two seasons to Messiah (Pa.) College, it was a fitting end to a perfect season.

"Both teams played incredibly well," said Bowdoin coach Nicky Pearson. "It's such a rivalry between both of us, so we knew going in it was going to be an incredibly hard game. "Every time we'd get ahead, they'd come back. That happened the whole game, but we just managed to stay ahead. I thought the kids played great."

By no means was Saturday's win, Bowdoin's third over NESCAC rival Middlebury this season, an easy one.

"There's just a lot of great players out there on the field," said Middlebury coach Katharine DeLorenzo. "Even when you have good coverage on them, great players are able to find great touches, even under coverage. I think that sort of explains why it was such a high-scoring game. I thought we played with terrific heart. I thought we broke down their zones for the first time all year and I'm just really proud of their effort."

After McNamara broke open the scoring 3:25 into the game, Middlebury took over and put the pressure on Bowdoin goal keeper Emileigh Mercer. Heather McCormack tied the game for the Panthers with 13:56 remaining in the half, and then 1:41 later, off a corner Lindsay McBride blasted it past Mercer to make it 2-1, Middlebury.

"I don't think we panicked," Pearson said. "I think we maintained our composure and believed that we could win the whole game. We have a lot of confidence, and I think that really showed today."

Bowdoin tied it less than two minutes later, as freshman Ingrid Oelschlager was taken down on a breakaway, which allowed McNamara to tie the game on a penalty stroke.

In the second half, McNamara scored her third goal of the game, and her eighth goal in the last three games, off her own rebound to put Bowdoin back in front, 3-2. Oelschlager made it 4-2 with 18:57 remaining.

"We didn't get down," McNamara said. "We took it up to another level after we [fell behind]. We were never down the whole season, but we did a good job. I think we never really thought that we were going to lose this game."

But again, Middlebury (17-5), which defeated the No. 2 team in the nation, Salisbury, in Friday's semifinals, and also had to beat No. 5 College of New Jersey and No. 7 Messiah in the tournament just to reach the finals, refused to go away.

Senior Reid Berrien made it 4-3 with 13:22 left, punching home a rebound past Mercer.

Bowdoin managed to hold on down the stretch, but not without anxious moments, as Middlebury had a penalty corner with 2:20 left, and several passes in front of Mercer that couldn't be knocked home.

"We've been down a lot," DeLorenzo said. "As I just said to our athletic director, we were an overtime away from not being in the tournament, so we've come from behind a lot, we've won a lot of games in overtime, so we weren't uncomfortable being behind."