BRADENTON, Fla. – Seven different players scored to lead third-ranked Bowdoin College past Mount Holyoke College, 15-6, in Spring Fling action at G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton, Florida. With the win, the Polar Bears improve to 5-0 on the year, while the Lyons slip to 2-3 overall.
Junior midfielder Emma Beecher (Morristown, N.J./Newark Academy) paced the way for Bowdoin, tallying a game-best four goals with two assists. Classmate and attacker Megan O'Connor (Concord, Mass./The Governors Academy) added a game-best four goals, while senior midfielder Taylor Wilson (Chevy Chase, Md./Episcopal) had two tallies with a game-high three assists. In goal, senior Isabel Sippel (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) made two saves for the win.
The Lyons were led by junior attack Julia Bell (Longmeadow, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson), who posted three goals with an assist. She also had a team-best four draw controls. Sophomore attack Charlotte Wagner (West Chester, Pa./Westtown School) had a pair of goals, while junior attack Catherine Ryan (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) recorded two assists. MHC saw sophomore Isa Rodriguez (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville School) make 21 saves in the contest.
Bowdoin opened up strong, going up by a 3-0 margin by the 14:21 mark of the first stanza. Beecher scored the first two tallies of the contest in the opening four minutes. Mount Holyoke answered, closing the gap to one (3-2) as Bell scored back-to-back goals just over a minute apart, but a 4-0 run from the Polar Bears over the final 9:15 saw Bowdoin take a 7-2 lead.
MHC senior midfielder Kirsten Kilburn (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) scored with just 35 seconds to go in the frame, sending the teams into halftime with Bowdoin up 7-3.
The second half saw the Polar Bears once again come out quick as Beecher and O'Connor each tallied in the first three minutes of the frame. Wagner then notched back-to-back shots on her own and Bell added her third to close the gap for MHC to 9-6. But the goal from Bell, which marked the 200th point in her career, would be the Lyons' last as Bowdoin shut down Mount Holyoke over the final 10:51 of the half, scoring six straight goals, including two from O'Connor and a pair from junior midfielder Lindsay Picard (New York, N.Y./Riverdale Country School).
Bowdoin had a 45-11 advantage in shots for the game, along with a 14-6 edge in draw controls. The Polar Bears also had a slight margin in ground balls, 19-12. Both teams did well on the clear as Bowdoin was a perfect 13-for-13, while the Lyons were 12-for-15.
Both teams are back in action this week during the Spring Fling as Bowdoin faces off against St. Lawrence on Tuesday (10am) and Mount Holyoke battles Concordia (Wisc.) on Thursday (12:30pm).
