Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- The Williams field hockey team (3-3, 1-3 NESCAC) was behind 3-0 to national powerhouse Bowdoin 68:52 into their Sunday game, but co-captain Meera Sivalingam (Philadelphia, PA) managed to pull off a last minute shot to bring the score up to 3-1.
Bowdoin (5-0, 3-0 NESCAC), who have won the NCAA championships three times in the last four years, kept the ball consistently on the Eph's side for the first half of the match. Williams' defense worked hard, with first-year Annie Rojas (Wilmette, IL) as a particularly consistent player. Despite this, the Polar Bears managed six shots to Williams' one in first thirty-five minutes. Bowdoin's Cathleen Smith, assisted by Elizabeth Clegg, scored at 1:50, followed by unassisted scores by her teammates Katie Herter and McKenna Teague at 13:38 and 27:20, respectively.
Williams did not have a shot on goal until twenty-five minutes in, when senior Katie Ellis (Darien, CT) made a bid for the net. In the second half, first-year standout Caitlin Conlon (Sudbury, MA) had four shots on goal. Fellow first-year Katie Jolin (Guilford, CT) had one shot on goal, as did senior co-captain Margie Fulton (Wellesley, MA), bringing Williams' total shots up to eight to Bowdoin's nine.
The Ephs stepped up their play considerably in the second half, however, garnering their first penalty corner on the Polar Bears in three years. Indeed, it was on the last of the three penalty corners earned by Williams that Sivalingam, assisted by sophomore Emily Jablonski (Madison, CT) and first-year Cary Hairfield (Richmond, VA), was able to make her successful bid on goal. Bowdoin ended the game with a total of eight penalty corners to Williams' three.
Conlon was injured 61:17 into the game.
Williams' goalkeeper Ariana Spiliotes (Bethesda, MD) recorded four saves and allowed three goals, while Bowdoin's Kayla Lessard recorded three saves and allowed one goal. Each spent the full seventy minutes in the net.
Despite Williams' loss, head coach Alix Barrale sees this game as something to build on. "We still have kinks to work out, but I'm very proud of how we played in the second half. We haven't scored against Bowdoin for at least three years, so Meera's shot was very exciting. We have to keep fine-tuning out skills, and strengthen our defense, but this game showed that we can compete with anyone legitimately."
The Ephs will go on the road Wednesday to play Springfield College at 7pm.
