Williamstown, Mass. - Bowdoin (9-3, 5-3 NESCAC) took everything the Ephs (9-3, 4-3 NESCAC) threw at them and reversed it Sunday on Williamson Field to claim a 3-2 victory. All of the goals in the game were scored in the first quarter.
The game started with the earliest goal Williams has seen all season, coming 23 seconds in. Shea van den Broek navigated down the middle of the field, sending a shot off the leg of Maddie Ferrucci, the Polar Bears' goalie. The rebound went straight to Catherine Torres, who guided the ball into the net. Bowdoin came right back down the left side, where Jill Cloonan centered the ball right in front of Carson Stephenson. Maya Malenfant found the opening through the legs of Stephenson to tie it up at 1 apiece.
Both teams attempted to settle in once the score evened up, but van den Broek again forced the Bowdoin defense to wobble off balance, leading to the first penalty corner of the day. The inbound went to Torres, who shot immediately. She was partially blocked, but it wasn't enough to deter van den Broek from pouncing on the floating ball to score her 12th goal of the season.
The Polar Bears were copycats, using a corner less than two minutes later to finish a nearly identical opportunity. Manveer Sandhu received the inbound, shot it, and the Ephs couldn't clear it as Faith Jennings cleaned up the miss to tie the game up again, this time at 2 all. With 2:52 left in the 1st quarter, a second corner from Bowdoin allowed Jill Cloonan to loft a shot over the head of Stephenson and into the goal.
Once Williams was down, they couldn't claw back. Eph head coach Alix Barrale said, "We became a little more frantic, we weren't playing cohesively." Throughout the game, the action focused on the Ephs offense, but the lack of corners and quality opportunities limited the scoring.
Molly Hellman was active in the midfield, getting two shots up at net in the first half, but she was blocked on both occasions.
Torres was the leading shot creator for the Ephs, with 7 total and 4 on goal.
Liz Scarcella came in and took 3 shots. The total shot battle was 15-11 in favor of Williams, however, Bowdoin led in shots on goal, 10-8. The Ephs had one more corner opportunity with 10 to the Polar Bears' 9.
Carson Stephenson led off the game in goal for Williams, saving 2 shots and allowing the 3 goals in the first quarter. Gates Tenerowicz provided some relief for her in the second quarter, saving all 5 shots she faced in those 45 minutes. When interviewed, she said, "The first quarter wasn't the team I usually know as my team. We had the intensity, but… we were in it to survive as opposed to really coming out and dominating the game."
For the Polar Bears, Senior Maddie Ferrucci played the duration of the game, saving 6 out of 8 Williams attempts.
The next game up for Williams is a rare mid-week game at Hamilton, Wednesday, October 13th at 6:30 PM. Bowdoin returns to Maine to face Connecticut College on Saturday, October 16th with a noon start time.
