(courtesy of Jac Coyne, Sports Information Director, Bowdoin College)

WOMEN'S SOCCER * NESCAC TOURNAMENT

Farmer Lifts Bowdoin Past Colby, 3-2 ~ White Mule upset bid fall short against No. 3 team in country

BRUNSWICK, Maine

Bowdoin College senior quad-captain Allison Farmer (Vienna, Va.) hit a low shot with 3:21 left in regulation that found the back of the net, giving the Polar Bear women's soccer team a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Colby in the quarterfinals of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament. Bowdoin (13-1-1, 7-1-1 NESCAC) entered the game as the No. 2 seed in the tournament and the No. 3 team in the nation while Colby (8-7-0, 4-5-0) was the seventh seed.

With the victory, Bowdoin will now advance to the semifinals at Middlebury where they will face third-seeded Tufts University after the Jumbos downed fifth-seeded Bates, 3-0. Top-ranked Middlebury will face the winner of the Amherst (4th seed) and Williams (6th) game.

Colby would score the first two goals of the game to put the favored Polar Bears in a hole. Sophomore Christine O'Donnell (Salem, Mass.) gave the visitors a 1-0 in the ninth minute when she settled a pass from junior Elizabeth Rice (Norfolk, Va.), wheeled and ripped a shot just under the crossbar and out of the grasp of Bowdoin senior keeper Sarah Farmer (Vienna). The White Mules continued their pressure for the rest of the half and it paid of with 14 minutes left when a Colby shot was knocked down in the penalty area by a Bowdoin hand-ball. Rice took the ensuing penalty kick and placed it just inside the left post for a 2-0 cushion.

Bowdoin caught a break with 7:27 left in the half when a long ball by junior Lyndsay Sennott (Boxford, Mass.) eluded a Colby defender and was loose in the penalty area. First-year Jill Falwell (Arlington, Mass.) muscled her way to the ball and ripped a shot inside the left post to trim the White Mule lead to 2-1 at the half. Bowdoin, which owns a 28-0-2 all-time record against Colby, held a slight, 11-9, advantage in shots at the conclusion of one half.

The Polar Bears wasted no time in tying the affair at the beginning of the second half as Bowdoin struck with just 48 ticks gone in the second frame. Sophomore Caroline Budney (Manlius, N.Y.) threaded a ball to junior Erin Finn-Welch (Marblehead, Mass.) who buried a ball in the upper right-hand corner of the Colby net from 20 yards out to tie the game at 2-2.

The rest of the second half was controlled by the Polar Bears, who finished with a 24-14 edge in shots and 8-4 margin in corner kicks. As it appeared the game was headed for overtime, Falwell chipped a ball into the six-yard box that was knocked around before being cleared to Allison Farmer at the top of the 18-yard area. Farmer kept the ball low and to the left, beating Colby junior keeper Abby Kussell (Weston, Mass.), who had come off her line to punch out Falwell's initial bid.

"This was a typical Bowdoin-Colby women's soccer game," said Bowdoin Head Coach John Cullen. "In the first half we tried to hit a long balls and that is not our strength. Colby really took us out of our game with its pressure. We went back to our style in the second half and it was enough today."

"I am happy with the way we played," said Colby Head Coach Jennifer Holsten, whose team lost to Bowdoin, 6-0, in the last regular season game. "Anyone who saw the game on Saturday saw a totally different Colby team today. In the second half, we just kept giving them too many opportunities on the weak side."

Kussell had an outstanding day for Colby, making 18 saves on the afternoon, including several impressive stops in the second half. Sarah Farmer made nine saves for Bowdoin to pick up the victory.

Colby (8-7-0, 4-5-0) 2 0 -- 0

Bowdoin (13-1-1, 7-1-1) 1 2 -- 3

SCORING Tm Scorer (assist) Time C Christine O'Donnell (Elizabeth Rice) 8:15, C Rice (penalty kick) 31:17, B Jill Falwell (Lyndsay Sennott) 37:33, B Erin Finn-Welch (Carolin Budney) 45:48, B Allison Farmer (unassisted) 84:39

SAVES - C, Abby Kussell 18. B, Sarah Farmer 9.

SHOTS - C, 14 B, 24

CORNER KICKS - C, 4

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