BRUNSWICK

With a Bowdoin men’s lacrosse team that consists of only four seniors and a highly competitive conference like the New England Small College Athletic Conference, the game-day challenges are always critical.

The Polar Bears entered Saturday’s contest against Connecticut College with a 1-5 conference record, while being 2-9 overall. However, the Camels have experienced the same issues throughout the season, dropping to 2-11 (0-8 NESCAC) after the Polar Bears were able to pull out a 12-7 victory at a windy Ryan Field, in a game that saw heavy pressure from the Bowdoin offense.

“I think they were just in that zone and we were really smart and patient and worked hard to get really good shots,” Polar Bears head coach Jason Archbell said after the game. “We weren’t afraid to be aggressive, but I think we had that fine balance of being aggressive, but intelligent at the same time and shot really smart. It was great to see and I think the guys started feeling pretty confident attacking it.”

The first couple of shots came from the sticks of the Camels, but the Polar Bears found the net first on their very first shot. After a long passing sequence in Connecticut’s defensive zone, Matthew Crowell rocketed a shot from the top of the arc on the right side to put his team up 1-0.

Bowdoin found the net once again just one minute later, but the Camels were able to answer both Polar Bear goals at the 6:03 and 3:07 markers in the first quarter. Wyatt Tompkins took ownership of both goals, with the first coming off a pass from Penn Sednaoui and the second from Ross Thompson.

The Polar Bears took a 3-2 advantage to conclude the first quarter when Daniel O’Berry launched one into the top shelf, with Brandon Lee getting credit for the assist.

“It was a really good team win because we were moving the ball well and we had confidence,” senior captain David Nemirov said after the game. “Rob Talcott did a good job winning us the ball on the face-offs, the defense was doing a great job stopping them (the Camels) and our offense was just poised and possessed the ball and moved the ball really well.”

Despite scoring three straight goals in the second frame, the Polar Bears held only a one-goal edge heading into the second half as the Camels closed out the final three minutes with two more goals to put the score at 6-5.

The final two frames featured a stronger Bowdoin defense, holding the Camels to just two goals in the third quarter and shutting them out in the fourth.

Nemirov collected two of his four total points in the third, opening up the first minute with a pass to Peter Reuter who dumped it in from the left side, while scoring a goal of his own with 6:54 remaining when he picked up a loose ball on a rebounded shot and threw it past Connecticut goalie Bobby Bleistein.

“Everyone just went down and started to play their guy really hard and just took their matchup personally and had some personal accountability,” Nemirov said about the improved game play.

“I think we knew what they (Con- necticut) were trying to do,” Archbell said. “We just kind of screwed some simple things up at the beginning of the game, whether it was nerves or whatever it was. I think once we settled in and played our game plan I think we looked pretty good. I will say we did start to get a little more aggressive in the right areas and that really helped us out quite a bit.”

Both teams battled in a fourth-quarter deadlock, but Reuter interrupted the scoreless frame with a shot at the 3:40 marker. Nemirov followed while taking home the hat trick with 2:12 remaining in the game, carrying the ball from behind the net, while spinning at the top of the arc and dishing it under the stick of Bleistein.

The Polar Bears will look to carry this win into their next contest at Colby on Tuesday, but Archbell and Nemirov said that despite the early-season struggles, the team has to put the past away and focus on the task at hand.

“Obviously it’s a confidence builder for the guys, they played hard against a really good team,” Archbell said. “I think more than anything else we’ve just been pushing the fact that you can’t worry about anything that happened before. What happened before doesn’t effect what’s happening right now. You just have to learn from your failures and take it as feedback and keep moving forward.”

“You just have to have a short memory, we can’t dwell on the past mistakes that we’ve had,” Nemirov said. “You have to learn from those mistakes and go on and try to not make them again in the next game and just be better.”