Anxious to play after their game against Tufts last Tuesday was postponed due to inclement weather, Brandeis lost 2-0 Saturday in their first game as a nationally-ranked team in an away game against Springfield College. Following their defeat Saturday, the Judges lost to Bridgewater State on Tuesday by a score of 1-0. The Judges, who were the ranked 18th in Division III, before Saturday’s contest are now ranked 22nd.
Both games resulted in frustrating defeats. According to Captain Alanna Torre ’12, the Judges were unable to cash in on many opportunities to score in each game. “We had so many opportunities, but we just couldn’t score. We were unlucky,” she said.
In the first half, Brandeis goalie Francine Kofinas ’13 did a great job of keeping the Judges in the game, making three saves. In the 26th minute, however, Springfield’s co-captain, Katie Mantie, scored the only goal of the half. Assisted by her co-captain, Jackie Moscardelli, Mantie was able to lift the ball over Kofinas.
In the second half, the Judges failed to take advantages of several scoring opportunities. Forward Hilary Andrews ’14 and midfielder Mary Shimko ’14 each had two chances to score in the second half, but came up short. The Judges can be encouraged, however, by the excellent play of rookie midfielder Sapir Edalati ’15, who scored a goal in the season opener and had three shots on goal in the final 21 minutes of the game on Saturday.
In the 59th minute, things took a turn for the worse when Moscardelli added to the lead by heading one into the back of the net on a beautiful cross from Springfield’s Jenelle Jahoda. The problem, according to Andrews, was that the cross came in by an undefended player. After the game, Andrews recognized the “need to work out some things defensively, because both goals were scored in the same way.”
Torre looks forward to the opportunity to bounce back Tuesday night, when they hosted Bridgewater State. “We need to come out hard, and try and score in the first five minutes. With a bunch of games this week, we need to do a good job of maintaining possession so we don’t tire ourselves out,” she said.
While the Judges did maintain possession against BSU, controlling the entire game, they came up short, losing 1-0. Despite outshooting the Bears 25-3, once again Brandeis could not take advantage of its many scoring opportunities. The game’s only goal came in the 52nd minute. After Brandeis took the first four shots of the second half, BSU’s Megan O’Leary received a corner kick, and knocked it in on the far post.
After the goal, the Judges began putting more pressure on the Bears, but BSU goalie Kerry Condon continued making saves. In the 72nd minute, Torre made a nice attempt that was saved by Condon. Following the play, Judges forward Maddy Stein ’14 had another nice attempt that was saved by Condon yet again.
In the 79th minute, Shimko had a chance that just went wide, and moments later had her header saved by Condon. With less than two minutes left in the game, Brandeis’ Kelly Peterson ’14 missed a free kick just over the cross-bar, which was the Judges’ last real scoring threat.
“We dominated the entire game, but we had problems finishing,” Torre said after the game. Though Brandeis lost, Torre still seemed optimistic: “It’s OK to lose in the beginning of the season, because we now know what we have to work on. Nobody likes losing and we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but now we’re motivated to win our upcoming games.” Brandeis, now 2-2 on the season, will travel to Brunswick, Maine, to face Bowdoin College on Saturday at 2 p.m.
