BRUNSWICK

Kara Finnerty scored with three minutes remaining in overtime to lift the Bowdoin College field hockey team to a season-opening 2-1 win against the University of New England on Wednesday evening.

The Polar Bears (1-0) took the one-goal lead late in the first half, but the Nor’easters (0-2) forced overtime with a goal in the final five minutes of regulation.

Elizabeth Growney put the Polar Bears on the board with 6:26 remaining in the first half. Manveer Sandhu shot the ball on net and forced Liz Sargent to make a save, but the keeper lost track of the rebound and Growney put Bowdoin ahead.

The Nor’easters flipped the script in the second with seven penalty corners against the Polar Bears. UNE finally converted as Kersey Boulay received the insert and carried right before dishing back to Reanne Boulay who blasted a shot through the defense with 4:06 remaining.

Kendra McDonald gave the Nor’easters a promising look in overtime as she outpaced her defenders and faced Maddie Ferrucci at full speed. McDonald carried left, but Ferrucci sprawled to turn away the bid.

Sandhu answered the breakaway attempt with one of her own, weaving through three defenders before a clean one-on-goal opportunity. Sandhu carried low to the right and fired a shot that Sargent stopped point blank.

The Polar Bears earned the win with 3:05 left in the first overtime. Abby Bashaw swept a centering pass inside the stroke where Finnerty finished with a reverse sweep to the far corner.

Bowdoin held a 20-12 edge in shots, with an 11-3 edge in the first half. UNE outshot the Polar Bears in the second, but the hosts regained the advantage in overtime.

UNE earned eight penalty corners to Bowdoin’s seven which all came in the first half.

Sargent ended the day with 10 saves, while Ferrucci made seven.

Bowdoin opens conference play on Saturday as the Polar Bears play host to Amherst at 11 a.m.

Volleyball

GORHAM — The visiting Polar Bears opened their 2018 season with an impressive 3-0 win (25-8, 25-13, 25-22) over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a non-conference match at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.

The Polar Bears dominated the first set outscoring the Huskies with a 14-2 run to close out the set.

In the second set, the Polar Bears pulled away from a 10-10 tie producing a 15-3 run to take the set and go up 2-0.

Southern Maine hung tough in the third set, rallying from a 19-11 deficit to tie the score at 22-22. A kill from Caroline Flaherty gave the visitors the lead, and two USM attack errors closed the match.

Ashley Williams lead the Bowdoin attack with nine kills. Danielle Abrams added five kills, and four other players had four kills. The Polar Bears compiled a solid .280 attack percentage in the match.

Kate Kiser and Lexie Freund combined to dish out 27 assists. Kiser had 17 helpers in the first two sets while Freund had 10 over the final two sets. Lisa Sheldon had 12 digs.

Junior Megan Gettings, sophomore Kacey Foerster and rookie Alexis Dow had four kills apiece for the Huskies. Senior Nicole Schmitz dished out 15 assists, and sophomore Rachel Chill had six digs.

Bowdoin will play in the Brandeis Invitational this Friday and Saturday.

Women’s soccer

BRUNSWICK — Bowdoin and Babson played to a scoreless draw in a nonconference match at Pickard Field.

Bowdoin ( 0- 0- 1) controlled the pace of play throughout the majority of the match, finishing the contest with a 20- 3 shot advantage, but failed to solve the Babson defense in 110 minutes of play.

Following some early chances by Bowdoin, Babson’s Jessica Fernandes had the best early opportunity for the visitors, taking a feed from Katherine Ryan and striking a shot that was saved by Polar Bear netminder Sabrina Albanese.

Bowdoin had a pair of good chances late in the half as a shot off the top of Julia Patterson slipped wide and a header by Lynn Farquar sailed just high as the game entered intermission tied at 0-0.

Babson increased the offensive pressure in the second half and had several late corner kicks to try and find the game-winner, to no avail.

Bowdoin had the only shots of overtime, the best of which came off the foot of Beth Brown, but was saved by Babson’s Maddison Giershick to preserve the tie.

Giershick made 10 saves for Babson to post the shutout, while Bowdoin’s Albanese made a pair of saves.

Morgan Gallagher attempted seven of Bowdoin’s 20 shots. Fernandes had two of Babson’s three shots on the day. Bowdoin held an 8-6 edge in corner kicks for the match.

Bowdoin hosts Amherst in its first NESCAC match of the year Saturday at noon.