All looked lost for the Judges on the road at MIT and down 3-0 after halftime. However, demonstrating the heart and spirit that Coach Mike Coven always mentions when talking about his players, Brandeis scored four unanswered goals and stunned the Engineers 4-3. Notching a hat trick in the effort was offensive dynamo Ben Premo 09. The rookies also played a vital role in the turnaround.
Premo got Brandeis on the board in the 57th minute with a close range strike that was assisted by rookies Patrick Meletus 10 and Alex Zenerovitz 10. Leaping high, Premo was able to head in a deflected corner kick to bring the Judges within one goal at the 77th minute. Five minutes later at the 82nd minute, a header off a pass by Billy Murphy 09 tied the score. With less than five minutes to go in regulation play, rookie Kevin Murphy 10 found Mike Snyder 07 who scored the game winner.
Brandeis out-shot MIT 18-5 for the game including a 13-1 rout in the second half. The Judges also dominated corner kicks, 8-2 with all eight coming in the second half as well. Taylor Bracken 10 notched the win though he had no saves for the day;
MIT goalie Tom Caldwell had three saves, all coming in the second half. The hat trick gives Premo nine goals for the season and moves into the top 25 for career scoring. Premos 46 points (19 goals, eight assists) is good for 22nd. The win was a needed boost following their defeat against Case Western back on Saturday.
The Brandeis University mens soccer team lost to Case Western Reserve University, but at the same time managed to do something that hasnt been done in the last 690 minutes of play against Case Western;
score. The Judges fell 2-1 and ended up losing their opening game of their UAA schedule.
Case, now 9-0-1, opened the scoring with a goal in the 23rd minute. Forward Kevin Bigart 09, took advantage when net minder, Taylor Bracken left his line. Bigart beat Bracken to the ball and was able to find the open midfielder, Nate Hoffman 09, for the goal. The goal was Hoffmanns second of the season.
The Judges put the ball in the net in the 34th minute, the first goal scored against Case Western in eight games. Forward, Ben Premo was pulled down in the opposing box and Brett Fitzgerald 08 was able to take advantage of the penalty kick.
The Spartans were able to regroup and took back the lead in the 56th minute with a penalty kick by Bigart. Bigart scored his seventh goal of the season after getting taken down inside the Brandeis 18-yard box. With three points on the day, Bigart was able to claim the team lead with twenty points on the season.
Brandeis had another great scoring opportunity when Case was assessed a red card in the 69th minute, meaning that the team had to play with one less player. The Judges tried to take advantage of the extra man but due to three off-sides violations, were unable to mount a rally.
Brandeis travels to Rochester and takes on the UAA rival on Oct. 7th at 7 p.m. The Judges are now 4-3-3 on the season. Information from Jeff Lemieux of the MIT Sports Information Department was used in this report.
