Brandeis Men’s Soccer overwhelmed Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the home game on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in a 1-0 victory. It was the Judges’ 11th win in total for the season, advancing their record to 11-1-1. The Massachusetts Maritime Buccaneers entered the game with a 4-6 record.
The game was the Judges’ 10th match decided by a single goal. Brandeis has impressively won all 10 of these close match-ups, seven of which have been 1-0 wins.
The Judges entered the game coming off their second conference win against Case Western Reserve University, which took place in Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday Oct. 11. The match against Massachusetts Maritime was seen as a UAA tune-up in preparation for the hectic homecoming weekend games against University of Chicago and Washington University.
Brandeis was on offense for a majority of the game, putting continual pressure on the goalkeeper and defense of the Buccaneers. The Judges tallied nine shots on goal out of the 24 shots taken throughout the entirety of the game. Josh Ocel ’17 led the home team with eight shots on goal..
Brandeis’ aggressive tactics required eight saves from the visiting goalkeeper Joe Cohen ’17, five of which occurred in the first half with three saves in the second.
Brendan Gawron ’19, of the Buccaneers, led the visitors by taking three of the eight shots from the Massachusetts Maritime offense in the duration of the game. The Buccaneers had three total shots on goal throughout the game, two of which were saved by Brandeis goalkeeper Kenn Fryer ’16. For Massachusetts Maritime’s third shot on goal opportunity in the 88th minute, visiting forward Alex Thompson ’18 took the shot, but was stopped by Conor Lanahan ’16, senior captain for the Judges.
The Judges’ only goal quickly followed the whistle that began the second half of the game. Ocel took a free kick in the 47th minute from approximately 20 yards away and Patrick Flahive ’18 headed it in for the goal. The goal was Flahive’s first of the season and second of his career. Also, it was his first game-winner goal in his career.
The assist from Ocel was his seventh of the season. Ocel in particular has done quite a bit of work for the Judges in the recent games. He has been a strong contributor in Brandeis’s last five goals, whether by assist or direct goals. He now leads the UAA conference in assists throughout the 2015 season.
The men’s soccer team has a busy upcoming weekend, with home games on Friday, Oct. 16 and Sunday, Oct. 18. On Friday at 6:30 p.m., the Judges face off against their third conference opponent University of Chicago. UChicago currently has a 7-3-2 record, and is without a win against other conference opponents. The second game of the weekend on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. will find the Judges battling Washington University in St. Louis for their fourth conference match-up. Washington University’s current record is 7-2-3, and also hasn’t won against a UAA participating opponent.
Brandeis men’s soccer is currently ranked first in the UAA conference for their overall record. They are tied with Emory University for first in the UAA for their 2-0 record against conference opponents during the 2015 season.
