The men’s and women’s soccer teams made their season debuts this past weekend. The men’s team opened the season on Friday against Roger Williams University (RWU), where they defeated the Hawks 1-0. The Judges then went on to face Washington and Lee (W&L) on Saturday where the Generals defeated Brandeis 1-0. The women’s team also had their season opener this weekend, when they traveled to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Friday. Nationally ranked MIT defeated the Judges 4-0 in their first game of the season. 

In the men’s soccer team’s first match of the weekend, against Roger Williams, the lone goal of the game was scored in the first half. First-year forward William DeNight made his debut for the Judges in dramatic fashion, scoring the game-winning goal in the 29th minute. In the play, DeNight took a shot at Roger Williams’ goal, but it was blocked by RWU’s backline. DeNight recovered the ball immediately and was able to take a second shot at the goal which slipped past RWU’s goalie Edward Geschickter. 

The rest of the contest, Brandeis remained in control. The Judges held the Hawks to only 10 shots, five of them being on goal. Senior goalkeeper Greg Irwin saved all five shots on goal, which made this game his seventh career shutout. For the Hawks, Geschickter had a total of four saves of Brandeis’ 17 shots. Hawks’ defender Nicholas Sancheez also prevented the Judges from going up 2-0 when junior Noah Gans had a shot off the line. 

Also on Friday, the women’s soccer team traveled to MIT for their first game of the season. The Judges had a rough start of the game, and the Engineers were able to score within the first 10 minutes of play. At 8:05, Chessa Hoekstra for MIT was the first to get on the board. Twenty minutes passed and the Engineers scored again on a free kick from outside the box by Karenna Groff. Then just two minutes later the Engineers were able to take the ball on a Brandeis turnover, allowing Claire O’Callaghan to score, putting MIT up 3-0 at the half. The Engineers finished the scoring in the second half at the 56 minute mark and went on to end the game 4-0. 

For the Judges, senior goalkeeper Victoria Richardson made three saves in the first half. Then sophomore Rebecca Gold came in, in the second half and also added three stops, allowing only one goal. Overall, MIT outshot Brandeis 20-10 in the game. Sophomore Juliette Carreiro led the Judges with three of the 10 shots. 

Then on Saturday the men’s team returned to Gordon Field, where they faced Washington and Lee University. Washington and Lee scored the lone goal of the game in the first half. At the 32 minute mark, Jack Parham was able to find the back of the net for the Generals. Despite suffering the loss to the Generals, the Brandeis team had its shining moments. Brandeis outshot W&L 18 to 5 and had three shots on goal. Senior Alex Walter and first-year Elias Norris both had good looks early in the game but couldn’t connect to the net. The W&L goalkeeper made two crucial saves against seniors Max Breiter and Colin Panarra late in the game to prevent the Judges from answering to the Generals’ goal. 

Both the men’s and women’s team return to action this week, where the men will have their first road game of the season and the women have their home opener.