LEXINGTON, Va. – The Ursinus College field hockey team saw its spectacular season come to an end at the hands of top-ranked Bowdoin, which remained unbeaten and advanced to the NCAA Division III championship with a 4-2 victory in the "Battle of the Bears" on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. The Polar Bears, who earned their third straight trip to the final, will play for the national title against Middlebury, a 4-1 winner over TCNJ in Saturday's other semifinal. The Bears closed their remarkable campaign with a 19-4 record, their 11th Centennial Conference crown in 12 years, and their first appearance in the Final Four in four years.
The fourth-ranked Bears had allowed only three shots in their two previous NCAA contests, but Bowdoin (21-0) put Ursinus' vaunted defense to the test from the opening whistle, firing off six shots in the first 12:28, the first rattling the crossbar and senior Danielle DeSpirito (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood) getting her mitts on another. Ursinus righted itself after the initial salvo, earning a pair of penalty corners and forcing Polar Bears junior netminder Clara Belitz into two saves. But Belitz stood tall, and Ursinus was unable to stave off the next onslaught.
Bowdoin broke the scoreless stalemate at the 25:30 mark of the first half, when senior defender Kelsey Mullaney completed a series of passes around the circle, striking home on the near side to deliver the go-ahead tally. The Polar Bears strengthened their position just after the half hour, as a two-on-one breakaway culminated in a connection between senior forward Rachel Kennedy and freshman forward Nicole Barbieri, who took a pass across the goalmouth and finished into an empty cage for a 2-0 lead.
Kennedy, the nation's leader in goals, tacked on an insurance tally at 51:15, stuffing in a rebound off a blast by Mullaney at the far post. Around five minutes later, Ursinus made its stand.
A shot by senior midfielder Megan Keenan (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) off a penalty corner at 52:13 jumpstarted a Bear barrage. Senior forward Devin Brakel (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor Plainsboro North) sent in a shot off a penalty corner, and even though Belitz was there to make the stop, the ensuing rebound left junior defender Ann Kopera (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) the space to plug home the rebound and put Ursinus on the board at 58:03.
The Polar Bears needed little more than two minutes to get the goal back, as Mullaney and Kennedy linked up again at 60:29. Mullaney directed a pass from the far side for Kennedy, who deflected it in front of the cage and in for her second marker and a 4-1 spread. Junior forward Amber Steigerwalt (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) gave the Bears a glimmer of hope in the waning minutes, splitting two defenders on the counterattack and sliding a shot inside the far post to cut the Bowdoin bulge to 4-2 with 4:37 to play. Ursinus garnered one final penalty corner with 25 seconds remaining, but Belitz stoned Keenan's effort to stymie the Bears' rally.
Kennedy finished with two goals and an assist and Mullaney added a goal and a helper for Bowdoin, which defeated Salisbury for the NCAA title in 2013 before falling to TCNJ last season. Belitz made seven saves for the Polar Bears, who enjoyed a 21-12 advantage in shots and a 13-8 edge in penalty corners.
Keenan ended her decorated career with four shots for the Bears. She leaves Ursinus as the school's all-time leader in shots (519, 1st in CC history) and ranks second in assists (52), goals (76, 2nd CC), and points (204, 3rd CC).
Midfielders Jordan Miller (Stevens, Pa./Cocalico), Stephanie Cooper (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West), and Kelsey Reed (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley); forwards Samantha Macchio (Redding, Conn./Joel Barlow), Danielle Stong (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown Area), and Brakel; and DeSpirito (six saves) also played their final games for a senior class that compiled a 62-22 record and won three conference championships.