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Volume CXXXIII, Number 9 |
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A bittersweet berth in NCAAs is a second chance for title
SEAN WALKER
STAFF WRITER
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| A Bowdoin varsity soccer player rushes to the ball during a home game earlier this season. The men's soccer team will head to St. Lawrence this weekend to compete in the NCAA tournament. (Hans Law, Bowdoin Orient) |
The noise late last Sunday night coming from the Tower wasn't the kind that you would expect from a Bowdoin Men's Soccer Team party following a devastating 1-0 loss to Williams in the NESCAC final. There were no broken windows, fire alarms set off, or fights in the hallway. Instead, there was music blaring, people shouting and general celebrating from our soccer hooligans.
What kind of soccer players would celebrate a loss, especially to the detested Cows of Williams?
Players heading to the NCAA tournament, that's who. After a stellar 13-2-2 regular season, the Polar Bears were rewarded with one of 11 at-large bids into the 44-team tournament. Bowdoin will play Wheaton College, at St. Lawrence (N.Y.) University this Saturday. It is the third time in school history that Bowdoin has reached the NCAA tournament, and the first since 1998.
Almost all hope of an at-large bid would have been lost if not for a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over Middlebury in the NESCAC semifinal. With the score deadlocked at 1-1, Tommy Bresnehan '05 took a pass from Bobby Desilets '05 and buried a right-footed laser into the net, sending Bowdoin to the final game against Williams. Bresnehan said of his goal, "It was an excellent feeling winning the game like that, but the rest of the team deserves the credit. The defense won that game and most of the games this season."
Defense has been the cornerstone of Bowdoin's season thus far, and is anchored by goalkeeper Travis Derr '04, who has allowed just three goals in his last 11 starts. Said Derr of the opportunity his team was given with the at large bid, "We aren't afraid of anyone and can compete with the best of teams, but we need to take it one game at a time. Every game is an opportunity to extend our season a little bit further, and, in my case, my career."
For Derr and fellow senior Jordan McQuillan, the next Bowdoin loss will mark the end of very successful college careers. That is, if there is a next loss. The team is now just five wins away from claiming the national title.
Though they will be playing some of the top teams in the country, the Polar Bears are confident that they can match up with anyone, given the difficult NESCAC schedule they endured this fall.
Although they were thrilled to make the NCAA tournament, the loss to Williams in the NESCAC title game left many players with a sour taste in their mouths.
"The loss to Williams was extremely disappointing," said Bresnehan. "It was our first trip to the finals in my time here and to come that close was heartbreaking. The news that we made the NCAAs helped to soften the blow because it gives us another shot to continue our season, but losing in the finals is still tough."
Bowdoin is in luck, however, as the team may get a chance to avenge its loss to Williams, as they will face each other again if both squads win their first two games in the tournament.
Still, the team is focused on Wheaton, against whom the Polar Bears started their season with a tough 2-1 overtime victory.
Derr, who chose to attend Bowdoin over Wheaton, would love to have Wheaton end their season as it begun, with a loss to the Polar Bears. Before the game, however, he and the rest of the Polar Bears must endure an eight-hour bus trip to St. Lawrence. Those eight hours will undoubtedly be filled with movies, sleep and nervous anticipation for Saturday's contest, the first step for Bowdoin in its drive to claim the national championship.
And while the loss to Williams in the NESCAC final was tough, how better for Bowdoin to gain revenge than by eliminating them from the NCAA tournament? Putting the loss and the upcoming tournament in perspective was Tucker Hodgkins '05. Said the captain,
"Athletics at Bowdoin tend to be too absorbed with conference play. Everything is NESCAC, NESCAC. When people from out of town come to Bowdoin and see NESCAC banners on the walls, their reaction is 'Oh, what does that one stand for?' No one needs to be told what NCAA stands for. I'm not saying a NESCAC title isn't a great prize; it is and we're still upset we don't have one yet. However, the NCAA tournament is and should be the real goal."
Victories and season-goals aside, the at-large bid to the tournament provides the Polar Bears with another opportunity to play together as a team. And, according to Derr, that is what is most important. Said the goalkeeper, "For me personally, I feel relieved that I can play another game with the boys, and every time I step on the field I am going to give it all I have to keep it going."
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