Bowdoin 4 - University Of New England 0

The Polar Bears looked sharp in their regular season opener, downing the University of New England Nor'easters in a decisive 4-0 victory. Tyler Huck looks to be every bit of his All-American, All-Conference self, and opened the scoring just 6 minutes into the game. Fellow senior Mateo Pacelli found Huck just inside the 18 yard box essentially unmarked, and it was a routine finish for Huck from there. Huck scored another unassisted in the 41st minute. Do not sleep on this kid. I'm going to double down on my bet for Huck as a NESCAC POTY candidate. He has first team all-American potential. Mateo Pacelli assisted another goal to sophomore Adam Prince in the 58th minute, and then with just 3 minutes remaining in regulation, Liam Elias nets his first collegiate goal. I expect Pacelli to continue contributing on offense for the Polar Bears, whether it be scoring goals or dishing assists. The senior trio of Pacelli, Huck, and Rueda-Duran (who I was surprised to see coming off the bench) could provide a lot of points for the Polar Bears this year.

The point defense was essentially untested in their season opener. The Polar Bears outshot the Nor'easters 31-4, and I imagine Alex Ainsworth was bored in net. Bowdoin started an underclassmen duo at CB, Liam Myers and Lucas Nuernberg. It will be interesting to see how those two fair against higher-quality NESCAC opponents. Bowdoin has had a strong history of all-conference CB and CDM (Dylan Reid, Jack Selig, Julian Juanterona). A strong back line has generally been crucial to their success. We'll see how the two young bucks hold up as the year progresses.

I wouldn't count Tyler Huck out for offensive player of the year honors. The Ross, California native has lit the NESCAC on fire since he arrived back in 2022, winning ROTY honors his freshman season and then back-to-back first team all-conference nods. He was also a third-team all American last year. He's coming off the highest goal total of his career and the complementary pieces in the Bowdoin attack are all retained from last Fall.

Bowdoin tied both Harvard and Tufts 0-0 today in Cambridge.

All reports saying the Polar Bears looked solid but does not bode well for their ability to score goals. I'd expect their offense gets into form as the regular season starts up.

Anyone else having issues with Bowdoin Trinity stream? No sound and keeps blacking out.

Tufts finds another off a corner kick. There was never a doubt. NESCAC haters will not like the 8-0 first round record these teams have posted.

Tufts finds the equalizer. It was only a matter of time.

PSU Behrend survives a second half onslaught from the Blue Jays to salvage overtime. Jays had one off the post with about 6 mins to play. This game has no business going to PKs but if Behrend can hold off another 20 minutes they'll give themselves a legitimate shot at the upset.

Penn State Behrend looks like a new team coming out of the half. Pressing high and had a threatening chance off a set piece after what I thought was a pretty soft call. If the Blue Jays can break the press I'd expect them to finish a chance but second half has looked a little too even for the Blue Jay fans out there.

And that's another. HSU collapsing.

3-0 Polar Bears. This team is very legit.

And that's another for Bowdoin. Great assist from Carlton Steinberg puts it on a platter for FY Arthur De Santos. That's likely the nail in the coffin.

Tyler Huck with a miraculous shot from outside the 18 to put Bowdoin ahead with 19 minutes to go. He's been doing that his entire career.

Bowdoin HSU deadlocked at 0-0 with 10 minutes to go in the first half.

The field is terrible. I can't believe they are going to play another game on this pitch tomorrow. You can see the sand kicking up as the ball moves across the field.

Both teams have had pretty good chances so far. HSU sailed on over the bar from a couple yards out. Bowdoin had a really close header off a corner that may have just crossed the line but too hard to tell without goal-line technology to call it a goal. Tyler Huck just went on a great run and probably should've dished it out to a teammate for what would have been an easy goal but also sailed it over. Games gotten pretty tense over the last few minutes and I'd argue Bowdoin deserves to be up right now but just hasn't been able to finish one.

Hamilton scores a third to make it 3-1.

D3 XC National Meet Selection has it down. Instead of giving automatic bids to conference champions, they give an automatic bid to regional winners and select at-large teams based on regional performances, not conference ones. It consistently pits the 32 best squads against each other on the biggest stage. Not sure you can really adopt that format for soccer but it's worth thinking about for sure.

Not sure I understand why the consistent abundance of NESCAC at large selections continues to get so much hate, especially when they perform in the tournament year-after-year. The NESCAC was won 6 of the past 10 national titles and had 3/8 elite eight teams last year. If you work out those proportions I'd argue they deserve 33% of the at-large selections. I want to watch the best teams duke it out in November, not some scrubs that make the tournament because they've never been before. I'd expect that trend to continue this year. The Bowdoin Polar Bears look lethal as of late; downing Tufts in the NESCAC quarters is no easy feat, especially in Medford. That obviously wouldn't have been possibly without the help of Oliver Bruce, the 6-1 173 lb striker specimen out of Chicago. He brings a unique aerobic endurance to the Bowdoin attack and played a crucial 9 minutes against Tufts and a critical additional minute against Middlebury. He deserves credit for Bowdoin's success this season and I anticipate that continues in the big dance.