The women’s soccer team celebrated two victories the last weekend in August. The first was a win against the Clark University Cougars. Not only was this a welcome bolster to team spirit after a 0-1 loss to MIT last week, but this win also marked Coach Denise Dallamora’s 300th win in her career as a varsity coach. Dallamora is the 14th coach in Division III women’s soccer history to win 300 games.
Coach Dallamora began working at Brandeis in 1979. A year later, Dallamora received an offer to coach the women’s soccer team when the team transitioned from club to varsity. To The Hoot she said that she believes the soccer program has continued to become more competitive over the years. Even after 34 years of coaching, Dallamora knows the importance of being “a continuing student of the game.” Dallamora’s coaching abilities kicked in fast for Samantha Schwartz ’18, who scored the only the goal of the game—her first collegiate goal and the team’s first goal of the season. Senior Sapir Edalati assisted Schwartz.
Schwartz attributes her quick success to Dallamora’s excellent coaching. “I feel that coming on as a freshman, along with the other freshman on the team, we felt very welcomed by her and the team and adjusted very quickly to her,” she stated. Even though Schwartz has just joined the team this season, she said, “I feel like it didn’t take very long for all of us to become really close. I truly love all the girls on the team, and know that I can trust them a lot. There’s no one else I would have rather spent my first two weeks at Brandeis with.”
The team had 15 shots on goal in total, but Schwartz’s goal was the only one to make it past the Cougars’ goalie, Gabby Paolini. The Brandeis defense was like a wall, only letting in one shot on goal. Both Schwartz and Dallamora believe that “finishing” (meaning getting the goal, not just the shot on goal) is what the team needs to focus on this season. The team’s record now stands at 1-1. Saturday, Sept. 6’s game against Lasell College will be their next chance to determine how the season will play out.
