Athletics News

NESCAC Championship First Round: Bowdoin 11, Connecticut College 10 OT

April 27, 2008

BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Owen Smith scored the game-winning goal with 2:34 remaining in overtime, propelling Bowdoin College to an 11-10 victory against Connecticut College in a first-round matchup of the NESCAC Championship Tournament played at Howard Ryan Field.

Bowodoin (10-5) advances to the final four at Middlebury while the Camels´ season and five-game winning streak comes to an abrupt end.

Mike Giordano netted three goals for the hosts. Smith had two scores. Adam Tracy dished out three assists. Gordon Convery (one save) and Alex Gluck (2 saves) split the time in goal.

Steve Dachille had a hat-trick for the Camels (10-6). Junior Ben Eischen tallied a pair of second half scores. Ryan Hayes contributed a goal and two assists. Sophomore Mark Moran finished with 14 saves for the Camels.

Bowdoin out-shot the Camels 19-to-12 in the first half, but Moran had nine stops to keep the game close and the game was tied at five at the intermission.

Eischen scored the first two goals of the third quarter, finishing on a feed from Jesse Stevenson with 11:41 remaining to make it a 7-5 game. Giordano halved the Camel lead with an individual effort collecting a ground ball on a rebounded shot and putting it in with 10:36 to play.

Later on in the quarter with 1:40 remaining, Hayes came up with a terrific individual effort, plucking a loose ball out of the air and depositing a blast into the Bowdoin net to make it a 9-7 Connecticut College lead after three quarters of play.

Both teams held the ball for long possessions in the fourth quarter. With 3:01 remaining, Smith got one back for the Polar Bears and it was a 9-8 contest. Mike Giordano put in the equalizer with 1:56 to play, forcing the sixth tie of the contest.

With 1:04 on the clock, Rob Halliday put in the go-ahead score, converting on a feed from Tracy and the Polar Bears had a 10-9 advantage and momentum on their side.

Bowdoin had the possession and the ball with less than a minute to play. Coming out of a timeout, the Camels were able to break Bowdoin´s clear. Brendan Moses cleared the ball into the box and Kevin Nally buried the game´s tying score with 12 seconds to go, forcing the extra session.

In the overtime, the Polar Bears won the faceoff and Smith supplied the game winner with 2:34 to play, lifting the hosts to the victory.

Connecticut College finishes with the most wins (10) for the program since the 2001. The team finished fifth in the NESCAC with a 5-4 record and won five of its last six games in the month of April.

For more information contact: William Tomasian (860) 439-2501; william.tomasian@conncoll.edu