BRUNSWICK — Bowdoin entered Thursday night’s women’s lacrosse game against the University of New England as the 12th-ranked team in the country, and the Polar Bears proved themselves worthy, as they scored seven goals in the first four minutes and rolled to a 20-2 non-conference victory at Howard Ryan Field.

Bowdoin needed just 22 seconds to get on the scoreboard, as the Polar Bears won the opening draw and quickly got into the attacking zone before Betsy Sachs finished with a drive from the left side.

The Polar Bears scored again 15 seconds later when Lindsay Picard under-hand swatted in her own rebound after an initial save by UNE goalie Courtney Kendall.

Bowdoin scored three more goals over the next 1:58 to force UNE head coach Sue Estabrook to call an early timeout.

“I think we felt the loss of not having Johanna (Currier) and Nikki (Smith) with us today,” said Estabrook. “Jo is really one of our big leaders, and a senior captain, and she was missed today.”

Currier was one of the defensive stoppers Estabrook said she was counting on having a big season, but she went down with a knee injury in the Nor’easters’ previous game. Smith, a skilled attacker, also went down in UNE’s win on Tuesday against Plymouth State.

Bowdoin scored two more goals by the 4:07 mark of the first half to increase its lead to 7-0.

The Nor’easters finally got their first shot six minutes in, but a free-position shot by Jocelyn Davee was deflected away before it reached the net.

The Polar Bears upped their lead to 11-0 10:05 in, and scored once more before Estabrook called another timeout. Estabrook pulled Kendall out and replaced her with Lauryn Huck with the game out of hand.

Bowdoin scored the first 15 goals of the game, and looked to carry a 15-0 lead into halftime, but UNE found something to cheer about as the halftime horn sounded. Gina Newsome found herself with possession of the ball with the clock winding down, then fed it to Hannah Tavella, who flicked a turn-around shot into the back of the net just before the horn sounded.

“I think that was really big, because it got rid of that goose egg,” said Estabrook.

The Nor’easters kept that momentum going for at least a few seconds into the second half, as they won the opening draw ”“ a rare occurrence in the game ”“ but couldn’t get a shot on net.

Sachs and Jordan Smith, who combined to score seven goals, each scored early in the half to add to the Bowdoin lead.

Davee, who had a team-leading four shots, rang the post just over five minutes in as she was one of the lone bright spots for UNE.

“It was her first game, and she played pretty good. She was pretty effective on the field,” Estabrook said of Davee. “It was good to see that; it was good to see people step up.”

Newsome scored UNE’s second goal on a free-position shot 11:25 into the second half.

Brooke Bullington, Brooke Goddard and Annie Glenn became the 10th, 11th, and 12th scorers for Bowdoin, respectively, as the Polar Bears handed the Nor’easters their first loss of the season.

“I think that they’re a great team, and we aspire to be where they are, in the top 20. It’s always good to play them,” said Estabrook. “You just got to hope that you get that one game under your belt, and you can move forward, and hope that you can bring it together and do better.”

UNE has a week off before its next game, as the Nor’easters host in-state rival University of Southern Maine next Thursday.

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.