Unforeseen Challenges

In 1971, the women’s field hockey team became the first women’s athletic team at Bowdoin, and it was coached by the College’s first woman coach, Sally LaPointe. Durings its first year, the team played against Bates College and local high schools. Because the College did not know which sports teams would develop after coeducation, they did not have women’s field hockey uniforms and instead provided the team with men’s soccer uniforms. The women’s field hockey team continued to wear men’s soccer uniforms until the 1974-75 year when the College provided new uniforms for the women’s teams. However, the field hockey and women’s lacrosse teams had to share uniforms until the 1986-87 school year. Here, the 1972 women’s field hockey team is featured in the student-run yearbook wearing men’s soccer uniforms.

The Women’s Field Hockey Team in The Bugle, 1972-1973