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Volume CXXXII, Number 22 |
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OT loss breaks the back of lax
ALLIE YANIKOSKI
STAFF WRITER
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| Grant White '04 stopped 14 shots in the OT loss. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
After a cutthroat 60 minutes of regulation play, the men's lacrosse team moved into overtime against host Amherst College last Saturday, losing 11-10 after three tense minutes.
"I was pleased with the Amherst game overall, except of course with the outcome," said senior co-captain Jamie Nichols. "We showed up to play, and [we] played hard all game long. Amherst is one of the best [teams] in the conference, and they came to play as well. Last Saturday was just a game between two good teams, and someone had to be on the losing end-unfortunately it was us."
Although Amherst led the game after the first quarter, junior Ford Gurall opened the game in Bowdoin's favor. "The Amherst game was a battle the entire 60-plus minutes," said senior co-captain Jordan Fay.
Bowdoin fought Amherst ferociously in the second quarter and entered halftime in a tie after senior Kyle Courtiss scored twice in succession.
As the game-high scorer last Saturday, Courtiss accounted for half of the Bears' points with five goals. Courtiss and Gurall each scored in the third quarter, and with 15 minutes remaining, Bowdoin trailed Amherst by only one goal.
Three minutes into the last quarter, first-year Connor Fitzgerald assisted senior co-captain Ted Scholhamer to post Bowdoin's final goal of the day and second of the quarter; however, Amherst scored once more, dragging the Bears into overtime.
"Amherst was a hard-fought game by both teams. We had many chances to finish and put the game away before and during the overtime period, but unfortunately we just didn't," said senior co-captain Micah Moreau.
Moreau, Scholhamer, and sophomore Phil Stern each scored once against Amherst. Stern and Gurall also contributed one assist each, while freshman Chris Eaton and Fitzgerald each assisted two goals against Amherst.
"Physically, both teams were evenly matched with a slight edge toward us," said Fay. "Mentally, we broke down a couple times, mostly because of inexperience. Inexperience is probably the biggest factor to the mediocrity of this season compared to others."
"Along with this inexperience is a lack of leadership," continued Fay. "There are only six seniors and six juniors, while there are 13 freshmen. This made it hard at times to keep the maturity level required to be a top team in the NESCAC. [However], there is plenty of time left in the season to overcome these problems, and the freshmen are getting better every game."
The first years have clearly added much to the team this season. Fitzgerald still leads the NESCAC in assists and has the second-highest assists-per-game average.
Defensively, first-year Bryan Duggan has been a key force for Bowdoin. "The defensive unit this year consists of the three close defense starters: Andrew O'Brien ['05], Austin Branson ['04], and myself," said Fay. Goalkeeper Grant White '04, long-stick midfielder Nichols and defensive midfielders Duggan, Graham Jones '04, and Alex Duncan '03 round out the lineup.
"Duncan, Jones, and Duggan deserve a hell of a lot more credit than they receive," said Nichols. "Other teams love to invert on us and initiate with their midfielders, and when they do this they are exposing our defensive middies and really put pressure on them to perform. [Jones, Duggan, and Duncan] have responded very well to that challenge."
"Duncan does everything behind the scenes for us," Nichols added. "He plays man down, he plays a little bit of offense, he clears the ball, and he does it all very well. He's a great utility man for us-just a huge factor who makes us that much better of a team all around. I don't know where we would be without him."
Behind Duncan, at the heart of the defensive line, is White. In his first season as a full-time goalkeeper, White has protected Bowdoin's net for every minute of every game and collected a 56 percent save rate.
Grant's save percentage places him less than 1.5 percent behind the Williams, Bates, and Trinity goalkeepers, and ahead of the Wesleyan goalkeeper. White blocked 13 shots on net against Amherst, allowing only 11 to sneak past him.
After the Amherst game, Bowdoin is ranked seventh in the NESCAC, ahead of Trinity, Bates, and Colby. However, in terms of scoring offense, the Bears stand in fifth place. Its average of 10.5 goals per game places Bowdoin ahead of Williams, Connecticut, Colby, Trinity, and Bates.
Courtiss currently leads the NESCAC for the most goals scored this season, with a cumulative 37-an average of 2.85 goals per game. Behind Courtiss, Bowdoin's next highest scorers are Scholhamer and Stern, each with 16 goals thus far. Fitzgerald and Gurall have 14 and 12 respectively.
With 28 assists, Fitzgerald leads the Bears, followed by sophomore Vinay Kashyap with nine, Courtiss and Gurall with eight assists apiece, and Eaton with five this season.
With the end of the regular season only one day away, Fay looks forward to the NESCAC tournament. "We will definitely be a tough contender in the tournament, hopefully capitalizing on our 'outside smoke.' It has been a tough season because every game has been close. Usually there is less parity throughout the NESCAC. This year the winner may not be the better team-it will be the team that has worked for it the hardest."
The Bears will host their last regular season game at Ryan Field tomorrow against Trinity.
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