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BRUNSWICK — Sam Raye-Steiner had many reasons to smile Sunday afternoon.
The biggest smile came when the senior midfielder realized he has another week with the second-ranked Bowdoin men’s lacrosse team.
Raye-Steiner scored four times in the Polar Bears’ 17-14 win over Stevens, including the go-ahead goal, to send the Bowdoin to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III tournament for the third-straight season. The Polar Bears (18-1) will host Hope College (20-0) in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Friday. The winner will play in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“I’m a senior now, it’s weird being an old man, but I just love my team so much,” Raye-Steiner said. “It is incredible. You look around the locker room and just everyone’s your best friend. I think in these moments when you’re fighting for your season, the love really fuels you.”
Bowdoin never trailed in the third-round matchup, leading 7-3 in the sunny second quarter and 11-7 in the rainy third quarter, but Stevens (18-3) would not go away. The Ducks used their physicality at the midfield X (17 of 33 faceoffs won) and high-efficiency in transition (16 of 16 clear attempts) to tie the game 12-12 at the end of the third and 14-14 midway through the fourth.
Bowdoin coach Bill Mason said his team was getting away from the simple parts of lacrosse at times, like picking up ground balls or getting successful clears, but once the fourth quarter started, “Those 15 minutes looked exactly like Bowdoin lacrosse should look like, executing on both sides of the ball.”
Raye-Steiner’s go-ahead goal with 6:40 remaining was set up by a broken stick save from Alec Delgado (15 saves), a successful clear and a key ground ball by Chris Berry (two goals, two assists).
“The whole season, we’ve said 0-0 is always the score,” Raye-Steiner said. “Even if we’re winning, 0-0, stay composed. This past week, it was ‘down one.’ Always desperate, even if we’re ahead. Stay the course. Don’t look at the scoreboard. Continue to play hungry. That’s a really good team we just beat, but I think that hungry mindset got us there, and it got the job done. It was unbelievable.”
Raye-Steiner scored one more time in a man-up situation nearly two minutes later, and on the ensuing possession Alex Choi and Casey Ryan connected for the final goal of the day. With the goal at 4:35, Ryan set the program’s record for points in a single season with 116. He broke the record of 115 set by Will Byrne in 2024 and finished Sunday’s game with four goals and five assists.
“A lot of hard work, feels pretty good, but I guess not really thinking about records,” Ryan said. “Just thinking about how to win, every game (is a) one-game season.”
The Polar Bears, the best team in the nation at man-up offense entering the postseason, were 4 of 5 in extra-man situations. Stevens was 1 of 7. Mason and Ryan both attributed the special teams efficiency to offensive coordinator Donal Mullane’s preparation and the high shooting percentage of man-up specialists Will Lesko and Ryan Winters (goal).
Stevens was led by Christopher Ciccarello (four goals), William Labartino (three goals) and Joe Leone (two goals, three assists).