Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.

Men's Soccer | Goals galore help extend winning streak to four

The men's soccer team extended its winning streak to four games, plowing through the Bowdoin Polar Bears 5-0 on Saturday afternoon.

The Jumbos have now outscored their opponents 15-2 in their past four matches, including three shutouts. It seems that all remnants of the team that started the season 0-4-1 have been expunged from the minds of this year's team, which now sports a newfound winning mentality.

"It feels good to win these games and play up to our potential," freshman Bear Duker said. "We are finally going to get the respect we deserve in our league. Everyone is riding a high right now, and we just need to stay focused and use that momentum to make a run for the rest of the season."

Bowdoin opened up the game with 12 shots and two corners to the Jumbos' three and zero, respectively. Despite the impressive number of shots, only four of the Polar Bears' strikes forced freshman goalkeeper Pat Tonelli to defend the cage. Tonelli did, however, have to stay strong in order to keep the game scoreless until senior forward Mattia Chason broke open the tie.

Chason scored in the 43rd minute on a feed from junior midfielder Alex Botwinick, giving the Jumbos a 1-0 lead.

"Soccer is a strange sport," Duker said. "The first half was actually more even than the numbers would suggest. Granted they had a lot of shots, but in terms of scoring chances, we each had an even amount."

The only deceiving number in the second half was Bowdoin's 6-1 record going into the match, as they were outmatched in every aspect of the game. The Jumbos offensive deluge started in the 62nd minute when junior forward Dan Jozwiak broke free from a Bowdoin defender and calmly tucked the ball into the lower-left corner on a mini break-away.

The scoring continued as Chason footed a well-crossed pass from Botwinick in the 68th minute for his second goal of the match and fifth of the year. Junior forward Robert Kastoff scored in the 74th minute and Botwinick added insult to injury with a header into the goal in the 88th minute for his fourth point of the match.

Last week's NESCAC Player of the Week, Bowdoin junior goalkeeper Nathan Lovitz, was humbled as he allowed five goals with only three saves to his credit. On the other end of the 5-0 rout, Tonelli made seven saves for a well-earned shutout, his third in the Jumbos' last four matches.

Scoring five goals is always an impressive feat, but this weekend was doubly impressive, considering that the highly-touted Bowdoin defense had previously allowed just three goals all season. Last weekend's games, for instance, featured shutouts of NESCAC foes Amherst and Middlebury for the Polar Bears. Yet all the stats and all the hype about Bowdoin's strength inspired the Jumbos to make a statement.

"I think we had a mental edge coming into the game, because Bowdoin thought they could walk through us and nobody expected us to do anything," Duker said. "It helps being the underdog, as long as your team doesn't buy into that mentality."

Three of the Jumbos' remaining five games are in-conference and are crucial to placement in NESCACs.

But first, the Jumbos will have an opportunity to extend their winning streak to five, as they take on non-conference Plymouth State on Wednesday under the lights of Kraft Field.

"We've been playing really well as a team lately," junior tri-captain Greg O'Connell said. "We are possessing the ball well and doing a good job of sticking to our game plan instead of adjusting to the other team. As long as we don't get big heads and continue to play our game, we are going to have a lot of success in the regular and post-seasons."