CORAM, NY - The Bears women's bowling team finished third for the first time in program history at the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championships this past weekend. Bloomfield fought hard in the Semifinal Round of the tournament, falling 4-3 to the eventual ECC Champion, Wilmington University at the Coram Country Lanes facility in NY. 
On Day 1 of the Tournament the Bears posted a 3-2 record, taking eighth place in the baker format qualifying round. Bloomfield opened Friday's matches with a 936-905 loss to Mercyhurst before downing St. Thomas Aquinas College 902-714. The Bears then fell to Wilmington University 978-866 before rallying for two-straight wins, upending Chestnut Hill College, 869-849 followed by an 883-882 victory over Kutztown University.  
 
Bloomfield closed out the qualifying round with a 177.0 average and a 4,425 total pinfall. The Bears next faced 9th seeded D'Youville in a best-of-7 baker format. Bloomfield swept the Saints, 4-0 with scores of 160-147, 232-173, 189-160 and 189-165 to finish up play on Friday.
 
The Bears looked to carry their momentum into Saturday's tournament play but dropped their first best-of-7 match of the day to Daemen College in a hard fought, 4-3 battle. Bloomfield moved to the elimination bracket where they faced #10 Molloy College, #11 Roberts Wesleyan College and #6 Kutztown University. The Bears went on a roll, defeating the Lions, 4-1 followed by a, 4-3 win over the Redhawks and a, 4-2 victory over the Golden Bears. 
 
Bloomfield was now faced with a rematch with top-seeded, Daemen and a chance to advance to the ECC Semifinal Round for the first time in the program's history. The teams traded wins in the first four games as the Bears took games 1 & 4, 177-170 & 211-184 and the Wildcats secured games 2 & 3, 204-165 & 201-190. Bloomfield wouldn't be denied and roared past Daemen, 210-199 and 240-194 to claim the 4-2 win and advanced to Sunday's semifinal round against #2, WilmU.
 
On Sunday morning, the Wildcats won game one, 173-171, but the Bears fought back and won game two, 192-170. The Wildcats could never get more than one game ahead of the Bloomfield, as they knotted the game, 3-3, with a 201-181 win in game six setting up a decisive game seven. Down the stretch of the hotly contested game, Wilmu put some distance between the Bears with strikes in the eighth and ninth frames. Bloomfield could only answer with a spare in the eighth and left the ninth frame open. After starting the 10th with knocking eight pins down, the Wildcats only needed one pin to close out the game and they completed the spare for the win, 192-170, and took the match, 4-3. WilmU went on to  be crowned East Coast Conference Tournament Champions on Sunday, defeating Adelphi, 2-0, in the mega match format.

Bloomfield graduates only one senior, Victoria Johnson (Edison, NJ) and will look to getting only stronger in the future after posting the most team wins in school history with 42.

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