MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Bowdoin College opened its New England Small College Athletic Conference football campaign with a 42-18 loss to Middlebury on Saturday.

The Polar Bears (0-1) will make their home debut on Saturday against Amherst at 1 p.m.

Middlebury’s McCallum Foote finished the day 26-of-44 in the air for 285 yards and five touchdowns, as the Panthers amassed 416 total yards of offense.

Greg Pierce rushed for 82 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown, while David Black caught seven passes for 63 yards. David Nurse led all tacklers with 14 in the contest, while Beau Breton picked up 11 to pace Bowdoin.

Middlebury’s Nick Burdeau picked off a Grant White pass and returned it 13 yards to the B-9 on the opening possession of the game. Two plays later, Foote found Zach Driscoll for the 7-0 lead.

After a Jimmy Garvey 29- yard field goal, Middlebury drove 60 yards on 10 plays, with Foote finding Brendan Rankowitz for a 24-yard TD to make it a 14-3 game with four minutes left in the first half.

Thomas Romero was intercepted on the Polar Bears’ ensuing possession, with an 18-yard return by Jared Onouye giving Middlebury the ball at the B-20. On fourth down, Foote found tight end Billy Chapman over the middle for the touchdown.

Bowdoin answered with a 77- yard drive on seven plays to make it a 21-9 game at the half. Romero found Nick Goldin for a 40-yard connection during the drive, with a 28-yard scoring strike to David Black finishing off the drive.

Middlebury drove 78 yards on its opening drive of the second half, with Remi Ashkar accounting for 21 yards on the ground and 21 through the air. The running back scored from 1 yard out to give the Panthers a 28-9 advantage.

Bowdoin’s Jim Garvey kicked his second field goal at the 8:21 mark, this one from 27 yards to make it a 28-12 contest, and a Romero to Christian Dulmaine 35-yard pass and a 4-yard TD run by Greg Pierce brought Bowdoin within 10 points, 28-18.

Volleyball

Bowdoinswept Roger Williams and Newbury on Saturday to finish play at the 2012 MIT Invitaitonal.

The Polar Bears (10-1) finished fourth overall at the tournament. Melissa Haskell was named to the All-Tournament Team. Bowdoin took a pair of 3-0 wins on Saturday over Roger Williams (25-13, 25- 23, 25-11) and Newbury (25-11, 25-20, 25-17).

Against Roger Williams, Haskell posted 10 kills and 10 digs while Sophia Cornew added 27 assists and 11 digs. In the Newbury match, Tory Edelman had a team-best eight kills to go with three aces. Christy Jewett notched seven kills and five aces.

Bowdoin is scheduled to return to action Tuesday night with a key non-conference regional match against UMass-Boston at 7 p.m.

On Friday, Bowdoin lost its first match of the season, but rebounded in the nightcap of opening day action at the MIT Invitational.

The Polar Bears won the first set against Springfield, but dropped an eventual 3-1 (15-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-18) decision.

Bowdoin bounced back to smother Mount Ida, 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-15) in the late match.

Field hockey

The host Middlebury Panthers handed Bowdoin its first loss of the season with a 2-1 NESCAC victory on Saturday at Kohn Field.

The Panthers, ranked third in the latest NFHCA Division III poll, improved to 4-0 (3-0 NESCAC) and dealt the fifthranked Polar Bears (4-1, 1-1 NESCAC), snapping a string of 18 consecutive wins.

Middlebury carried a 2-0 lead through halftime until Bowdoin’s Katie Riley redirected an Olivia King shot at 40:20 to trim the edge to 2-1.

The Polar Bears had seven shots in the second half, but failed to find an equalizer.

Lessard and Brooks finished with six saves each. Bowdoin held a 15-14 advantage in shots.

Men’s soccer

Bowdoin sophomore Andrew Gray came off the bench to score the game-winning goal with 10:01 remaining to give the Polar Bears a 1- 0 road win at Middlebury on Saturday afternoon.

With their fourth consecutive win, the Polar Bears improved to 4-1 (1-1 NESCAC) this fall. The Panthers fell to 3-2 (1-2 NESCAC).

Bowdoin goaltender Will Wise made a diving break-up save to keep the game scoreless into intermission.

Bowdoin’s best chances all came in the second half, starting in the 57th minute when Andrew Jones struck a low, hard shot that sailed through the defense and just wide of the goal. The Polar Bears again came close in the 76th minute as an Eddie Jones strike soared just over the cross bar.

The Polar Bears finally put one home with just over 10 minutes to go as Eric Goitia played a free kick into the box. The ball rattled around until coming to the foot of Gray, who ripped a shot past Middlebury goaltender Zach Abdu-Glass.

Bowdoin will host Bates at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.

Women’s soccer

In a battle of unbeaten squads, ninth-ranked Middlebury remained perfect with a 1-0 victory over Bowdoin on Dragone Field on Saturday.

The Polar Bears (4-1, 2-1) host the University of New England on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Middlebury (5-0, 3-0) held a 6-1 shots advantage in the first half.

In the second half. Moria Sloan found Scarlett Kirk on a crossing pass, with her shot denied by a diving save from Bowdoin keeper Bridget McCarthy.

The game’s only goal came at the 51:41 mark, as Lucy Wagner scored her first career goal. The defender launched a shot from near the end line in the right corner, with the ball sailing high over the head of McCarthy and into the net.

Foody finished with five saves, while McCarthy made four stops for the Polar Bears.

Women’s rugby

Bowdoin overwhelmed Bates in a 69-0 victory on Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears improved to 5-0 (2-0 NESCRC).

Kerry Townsend scored twice for the Polar Bears, prop Anissa Tanksley ran a line off a 5-meter ruck to score, and Emily Athanas- Linden took a perfect pass from scrumhalf Kameryn Sanchez.

Athanas-Linden ran hard to the space, and cut back through several cover defenders to touch the ball down in in-goal. Randi London converted three of the four scores in the first half to give Bowdoin a 26-0 lead at the break.

In the second half, Lynn Freedman and Dani McAvoy connected well on the lineouts, assuring good ball for the backline. The forward pack carried the ball well and broke numerous tackles, gaining large yardage, before releasing it out to the backline, who took advantage of their edge in footwork and speed to touch down numerous tries.

Scoring in the second half were Townsend (2), Tanksley, Amanda Montenegro, co-captain Uche Esonu, Maddie Baird and Hayleigh Kein, who scored a beautiful long running try outdistancing several defenders in her first few minutes of rugby. She later added two solid tackles in defense. London converted four of the seven second half tries.

Bowdoin will return to action next Saturday against Tufts. Match time is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Cross country

The Bowdoin men finished first and the women second at the Wesleyan Invitational on Saturday.

Highlighting the performance for the Polar Bears was a dominant 1-4 finish for the Bowdoin men, led by a first-place finish from Nicholas Saba. The women’s team was paced by a 2-3 showing from Madelena Rizzo and Olivia MacKenzie.

The top four Polar Bear men finished a fraction of a second apart, led by Saba (26:28.20), Greg Talpey (26:28.80), Sam Seekins (26:29.00) and Coby Horowitz (26:29.30).

Rizzo ran the women’s 5K in 19:08.80 to finish just 2.7 seconds off the winning time. MacKenzie was right behind in 19:10.50. Gina Stalica (17th, 20:08.30), Kendra Novak (20:09.70), Lucy Skinner (20:12.90).

The Polar Bears will return to action on Oct. 7 at the Open New England Championship hosted by Westfield State.