It took two overtimes to do it, but the Beavers of Babson College felled the Brandeis men’s soccer team in a 2-1 final Saturday. It was the second straight loss for the Judges (6-2), who had opened the season by winning six straight games. The win gave Babson, the ninth-ranked team in New England, a total of seven wins in its first nine contests. The Beavers made it eight-out-of-ten by defeating Keene State on Wednesday.
Eighth-ranked Brandeis was forced to play from behind just 15:14 into the affair. Off a long cross from the right side, Eric Anderson’s ’13 lunging shot low and inside the left post gave Babson the early 1-0 lead.
It took just more than 15 minutes for the Judges to even the score with a play that developed in the right corner. Evan Ersing ’12 lifted a ball towards Luke Teece ’12, positioned on the far side of the box. Teece’s header found the northeast corner of the net at the 30:22 mark. Ersing’s helper was his first point of the year while Teece’s strike was his team-high fifth goal of the season.
There would be no follow-up score for more than an hour of gameplay. Babson rang two shots off the post in the scoreless second half, the latter of which came off a corner kick in the 53rd minute, but the combination of iron and Brandeis keeper Taylor Bracken ’11 kept Babson off the board. On route to a seven save performance, Bracken made three critical stops–one coming with less than five minutes left in regulation–in the second.
Bracken continued to keep the Judges afloat with his play in the first 10-minute overtime period. A pair of sprawling saves stopped a series of chances from Babson’s Max Walker ’12, responsible for one of the earlier shots off the post.
The seemingly snake-bitten Walker found not man or iron but twine in the second overtime. Off of a failed clearing attempt, the Newton, Mass. native, alone on the left side, beat Bracken with a shot inside the right post at 102:54. The sudden death score gave Babson, which out-shot Brandeis by a 23-14 margin, the victory.
The Judges look to get back in the win column on Saturday with a home contest against conference rival Case Western Reserve (4-2-3). It is the Judges’ first University Athletic Association match of the season.
In 2009 UAA competition, the Judges finished with the seventh best record–ahead of Case–in the eight team conference.
