For the last seven years, the Bowdoin women's basketball team has made it look easy.
The Polar Bears have gone 20-0 in the NESCAC Tournament since 2001, winning each game by an average of nearly 14 points and taking all seven conference championships ever awarded. The squad has also posted 47 consecutive home victories against NESCAC foes, a run that dates back to February 2001, and has lost just one regular-season conference game since 2002.
But as they prepare to kick off the 2007-08 campaign at Rochester this afternoon, the Polar Bears may be gearing up for their toughest championship defense yet. Gone are three decorated senior starters that went 112-9 in their four-year careers and formed the core of the Polar Bears' success last season.
The biggest of those losses is All-American forward Eileen Flaherty, who was named the Div. III National Player of the Year last season after posting a conference-best 18.5 points per game. A four-time First Team All-NESCAC selection and the 2007 NESCAC Player of the Year, Flaherty graduated as Bowdoin's all-time leading scorer and ranks in the top five in program history in rebounds, blocks, field goals, free throw percentage and three-point percentage.
"All teams have to find their identity at the start of each year, but I think that's going to be an even bigger challenge for us because Eileen has been such a big part of our identity," Polar Bears coach Stefanie Pemper said. "Eileen just brought a lot of confidence, a lot of poise, to the court and we have to find kids to replace that. That is difficult, and to some degree you have to do it every year, but I think it is a bigger challenge for our team this year than normal."
Bowdoin also graduated its backcourt duo of point guard Katie Cummings and shooting guard Julia Loonin, who were the team's top two in assists last season. Each logged over 2,200 minutes in her career, and the team knows it will miss their veteran presence.
"Right now we have five guards that we are rotating in," Pemper said. "We like them all, but they all have to achieve that level of maturity maybe quicker than guards in the past have had to."
The Polar Bears will also face the challenge of a deeper conference in which several teams have emerged as legitimate challengers. Bates, which appeared in the NESCAC title game every year from 2003 to 2006, returns two All-NESCAC selections in junior forward Val Beckwith and senior guard Sarah Barton, the latter of whom was named a Fourth-Team Preseason All-American by D3hoops.com. In January, the Bobcats will also welcome back 2006 NESCAC Player of the Year Meg Coffin, who missed all of last season with a knee injury and will use her final year of eligibility this season.
"Obviously, Bates has a lot going for it this year on paper - just a ton when you look at their talent and their experience and their depth," Pemper said. "They've always been a tough matchup, but I think this, on paper, is the best team they've had."
Coming off a program-best second-place finish in the conference, Tufts will also be a contender, as will Wesleyan, which returns its top four scorers from last season.
Although Bowdoin will have to deal with its share of challenges this season, the expectations are high. The team drew the No. 5 national ranking in the preseason Div. III poll and was the only NESCAC team to be ranked in the top 25. The Polar Bears have thrived under the pressure of high expectations before, reaching at least the Elite Eight for six consecutive seasons, and no one is expecting this year's squad to respond any differently.
"Coach Pemper always reloads, so they're still a quality team with some real quality players," Tufts coach Carla Berube said. "They'll always be the team everyone's gunning for, and last year they showed they have plenty of talent."
In their attempt to make another deep run into the NCAA Tournament, the Polar Bears will rely on a much younger starting lineup than the one Pemper compiled last season. Bowdoin's top returning starter is junior forward Jill Anelauskas, a First Team All-NESCAC selection last year after she posted 12.4 points per game while shooting 46 percent from the field. Classmate Alexa Kaubris also returns to help fill the void left by Cummings and Loonin in the Bowdoin backcourt.
While the team's youth will certainly present a challenge, the Polar Bears believe that their players will mature quickly.
"We're definitely going to be more challenged than we've been in that regard," Pemper said. "But we have a lot of confidence that the kids have the talent, the desire, and the mental ability to play older than they are. We really believe in this group."
Rachel Dolin contributed reporting to this article.
