BRUNSWICK, Maine  - The Bowdoin women's soccer team punched their ticket to the NESCAC semifinals after shutting out Tufts 4-0 in the program's first ever post-season win over the Jumbos.
 
The Polar Bears (11-3-0) were 0-2-2 against the Jumbos (7-6-2) in their previous four NESCAC post-season meetings. Bowdoin completed the regular season as the number two seed in the conference, the team's highest finish since 2003, and earned a second game against seventh seeded Tufts. The Jumbos returned to Brunswick just five days after closing out the regular season against Bowdoin on Tuesday afternoon, with the Polar Bears taking the 3-1 victory.
 
Tufts challenged Bowdoin goalie Bridget McCarthy minutes into the game, forcing the junior keeper to make a play on Robin Estus under five minutes in. The Jumbos saw their most promising scoring opportunity of the game 11:32 into play as a Tufts player floated a long ball from her own defensive end well into Bowdoin territory where a streaking Mariah Harvey connected and toed a shot over McCarthy only to see the ball bounce off the right post. The Polar Bears responded with their first goal of the game at 16:00 off the foot of Abby Einwag. Making a quick turnaround touch, pushing the ball between a defender's legs, Einwag booted a shot from the top of the box to the left corner.
 
Amanda Kinneston gave the Polar Bears a bit of breathing room just under fifteen minutes into the second half, finishing off a feed from Jamie Hofstetter. With Hofstetter moving the ball out of the midfield, Kinneston broke away on the left side and cleanly fielded a pass before making a few quick moves and sliding her shot past Tufts keeper Eileen McGarry. Hostetter got a goal of her own, as she successfully converted on a penalty kick in the 76th minute. Bowdoin finished out the day with one final goal with just 46 seconds remaining. Jenna DiCicco took a low angle shot from the right side, which McGarry got a hand on, but Julia Bottone was there on the doorstep to clean up the rebound.
 
Bowdoin outshot the Jumbos by a 19-10 margin and held a 4-2 edge in corner kicks. McGarry made eight saves in a complete game showing for Tufts, while McCarthy made four stops before giving way to Rachel Stout in the final seven minutes. Stout recorded one save.
 
Bowdoin faces Connecticut College at 1:30 p.m. in the NESCAC semifinals next Saturday hosted by Williams. The Camels held seed and defeated Trinity by a 3-0 margin to advance.