Courtesy Bowdoin Sports Information

Box Score

BRUNSWICK, Maine - Bowdoin team claimed its third-straight NESCAC title on Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Middlebury in the final of the 2007 NESCAC Field Hockey Championship. The Polar Bears (16-0) become the first program to win three consecutive NESCAC titles and earn their conference-leading fourth crown overall (2000, '05, '06, '07).

With the victory, Bowdoin receives the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament which begins next week. The top-ranked Polar Bears will likely receive hosting rights for an NCAA Regional when pairings are announced on Sunday evening. Ninth-ranked Middlebury (13-4) will hope for an at-large bid. Selections will be released around 10:00 p.m. on NCAASports.com.

In a rematch of the 2006 final, it was Middlebury who earned the best early chance of the 2007 final. Just two minutes into the contest, Panther captain Reid Berrien collected a loose ball behind the Bowdoin defense and broke in alone on keeper Emileigh Mercer. Mercer made a pad save to keep the game scoreless.

The Polar Bears would break the deadlock in the eighth minute, as Kate Gormley played a cross into the circle from the left wing. Lindsay McNamara redirected the ball to the waiting stick of Hillary Hoffman on the far post, who slammed it home for a 1-0 Bowdoin lead.

The Polar Bears made a bid to improve their lead shortly after halftime, as a McNamara shot slipped between the legs of Middlebury goaltender Caitlin Pentifallo. But Katherine Entwisle made a diving defensive save, swiping the ball off the goal line to keep it a one-goal deficit.

Inspired by the defensive effort, Middlebury made their best offensive push of the day in the 43rd minute with a flurry of shots. Marnie Rowe ripped off a pair of quick shots on the doorstep, both of which were kicked away by Mercer.

Bowdoin replied with a push in the other direction, and found the back of the cage in the 56th minute courtesy of McNamara. Julia King took a strike from the top of the circle that was tipped by Bowdoin's leading scorer in front, sailing inside the right post to give Bowdoin a 2-0 advantage. Middlebury answered less than four minutes later, as Taryn Petrelli took control of the ball at the top of the circle, moved to her left and backhanded a chance that skipped between the leg pads of Mercer with 21 minutes remaining.

But Bowdoin replied with a quick goal just four minutes later, as a long ball by King was again tipped in front by McNamara, who tucked it inside the left post for a much-needed insurance tally. The goal was the 51st of McNamara's career- breaking the program record of 50 formerly held by Sheila Carroll '90. In addition, with two assists on the day, King raised her single-season total to 19, also a Bowdoin school mark.

Mercer finished with six saves in the game, while Pentifallo ended with nine. Bowdoin held a 20-7 advantage in shots and 12-4 edge in penalty corners. The Polar Bears have won five straight over their rivals from Middlebury, including the last two NESCAC title games.

2007 NESCAC FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round - Sunday, October 28 at Higher Seeds
at No. 2 Tufts 1, No. 7 Wesleyan 0
at No. 3 Middlebury 4, No. 6 Trinity 2
at No. 4 Williams 3, No. 5 Amherst 1

Semifinals - Saturday, November 3 at Bowdoin
at No. 1 Bowdoin 2, No. 4 Williams 1
No. 3 Middlebury 4, vs. No. 2 Tufts 3 - OT

Championship - Sunday, November 4 at Bowdoin
at No. 1 Bowdoin 3, No. 3 Middlebury 1

2007 NESCAC FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

First Round - Sunday, October 28 at Higher Seeds
1:00 p.m.
No. 7 at No. 2
No. 6 at No. 3
No. 5 at No. 4

Semifinals - Saturday, November 3 at No. 1 Seed
11:00 a.m./1:30 p.m.
No. 1 vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
Remaining First Round Winners

Championship - Sunday, November 4
Semifinal Winners - 12:00 p.m.

Format
The top 7 teams in the conference will qualify for the NESCAC Field Hockey Championship.  First round games will be conducted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 with the semifinals and championship games conducted on Saturday, November 3 and Sunday, November 4, respectively.  The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. 

Seeding
Seeding will be based on final conference standings of round robin play.  The number one seed will receive a bye in the first round and will host the semifinals and championship game.  The 7th seed will play at the 2nd seed, the 6th seed will play at the 3rd seed, and the 5th seed will play at the 4th seed.  Teams will be re-bracketed after first round games and the lowest remaining seed will face the number one seed.

Pairings
Pairings will be announced Saturday, October 27.

Tie Breaking Procedures
Ties will be broken as follows:

Head-to-head result (if teams play each other more than once during the regular season, the game that appears on the league schedule will be the game that is counted).

If teams tied during the regular season, or there is a 3-way or more tie, the following tie breaking procedure will be used:

• Best record among tying teams, against one another (head-to-head).
• Most conference wins (in games that are part of the conference schedule and count toward league standings).
• Comparison of results of conference games played against top 4 teams (including all teams at the 4th spot).
• Comparison of results of conference games played against top 8 teams (including all teams at the 8th spot).
• Comparison of results of conference games played against conference teams in rank order.
• Comparisons shall be made one team at a time starting with the highest ranked team.
• If the tie remains after comparing results against the highest ranked team, the results against the next team in rank order shall be used. This process is continued until a winner is determined.
• Coin flip (or similar random action involving all tied teams).

Note: In case of ties among three or more schools, the criteria above will be applied in order until a team is (or teams are) separated.  At that point, the process begins anew (returning to the first criteria) with the remaining teams.  The process is continued until the tie is eventually broken.  In cases where only a random action will break the tie of three or more teams, the random action will be applied to all teams involved in the tie.  For example, if three teams are tied and only a random action (pulling names out of a hat) will break the tie, each name will be pulled and seeded in order of being pulled.  Also, in the event that there are two (or more) groups of teams tied at different spots in the standings and the only criteria left that can be used to break those ties is a coin flip/random action, the coin flip/random action used to break the tie of one group (to put teams in rank order) will not affect the tie breaking procedures of the other group(s) of tied teams.