The women’s soccer team ended their season on Sunday with a loss in the ECAC finals to the Keene State Owls. The Judges went down in penalty kicks after regulation and overtime failed to produce a winner. Brandeis defeated the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Trailblazers on Saturday afternoon in penalty kicks.
The Judges got on the board early against MCLA, scoring in the sixth minute of play when forward Melissa Gorenkoff ’10 sent a shot through the box to midfielder Sofia Vallone ’11. Vallone deflected the ball into the net for her third goal of the season.
Brandeis held onto the 1-0 lead through the first half, but the Trailblazers got two on the board in the second half to get the lead over the No. 1 seeded Judges. Their first goal cam in the 50th minute when the leading scorer for MCLA, Jess Tietgens ’11, sent a roling ball past Brandeis keeper Hillary Rosenzweig ’10.
18 minutes later the Trailblazers got the second goal of the half, but their two goal lead would last less than a minute. Midfielder Mimi Theodore ’12 had her 10th goal of the season when she took a feed from Vallone and beat our a Trailblazers defender.
The Judges tied it up in the 85th minute. Gorenkoff took a pass from forward Kelly Doolittle ’12 and sent the ball to the back of the net. The game was forced into overtime. After an extra 20 minutes, neither team had managed to pull ahead and they went into a shootout. Brandeis outscored the Trailblazers 3-1 in for the win thanks to goals from defender Francesca Shin ’12, forward Tiffany Pacheco ’11, and defender Jessica Schulman ’12. All three sent the ball to the upper right corner of the net.
Rosenzweig made 12 saves in the game, a new season-high, including two major stops in the penalty kicks.
The Judges played in the ECAC Championship on Sunday to defend their title, but fell to Keene State in penalty kicks. The game was pretty evenly matched in the first half, with the Judges edging a 6-4 shooting advantage, but neither team was able to get on the board.
The Owls fought back in the second half and owned a 15-1 shooting advantage over their hosts, but still were unable to get the ball past Rosenzweig. At the end of 110 minutes of play, the game was at a scoreless tie. For the second straight game, Brandeis went to penalty kicks. This was a different story than against the Trailblazers, though.
Schulman and Vallone both connected on their attempts, but they could not outshoot the Owls who had four players get the ball in the net. Owls keeper Megan Dempsey ’12 had give saves in the game and 12 in the tournament. She was given MVP honors. Rosenzweig had nine saves in the loss, but did tack on her seventh shutout of the season to boost her school-record to 22. Brandeis finished off their season with a record of 10-6-5.
