This weekend, the Brandeis men’s soccer team added two wins to its record by beating the Clark University Cougars 2-1 on Wednesday and the Babson University Beavers 2-1 on Saturday. With these two wins, the Judges improve their record to 3-1 on the season while the Cougars fall to 1-1 and the Beavers fall to 2-1.
Their first match of the week against the Cougars was electric as the game went into overtime after they were able to net a goal in the 88th minute. The Judges and the Cougars were scoreless at the end of the first half despite the Judges’ efforts, outshooting the Cougars 9-2. The game was tied 0-0 at the 54 minute mark, when midfielder Noah Gans ’21 headed the ball into the net off a cross from Dylan Hennessy ’20. This gave Gans his first goal of the season and the fifth of his career.
Brandeis had almost closed out the game with the lead 1-0 when in the final two minutes of play tensions rose and fouls were drawn. Three yellow cards were given out to Gans, Max Breiter ’20 and Alex Walter ’20. The Cougars were able to draw a free kick from one of the cards and the Cougars’ Trevor Sheridan sent the ball to Evan Jurkowski, who scored.
The game was sent to overtime and the Cougars were able to withstand two shots on goal from the Judges by Hennessey and Will DeNight ’23. Then, only 59 seconds into the second overtime period, midfielder Colin Panarra ’20 sent the ball to Breiter who scored the winning goal for the Judges. Overall, Brandeis outshot Cougars 18-6 with 11 corners to Cougars’ three.
Then on Saturday, the Judges took on the Beavers at home in the 67th meeting of their longtime rivalry. Although the Beavers were the first to score, the Judges were able to come out on top 2-1. In the 26th minute of play the Beavers’ Youcef Ziad sent a cross through the box of the Judges and Liam Hanlon scored for the Beavers. After this goal the Judges were quick to respond. Twelve minutes later, Hennessy sent a ball to DeNight who was able to move up the field to the top of the box and shoot the ball into the net from 20 yards out. Despite outshooting the Beavers 11-5 in the first half the Judges went into halftime with the score tied 1-1.
But the Judges didn’t hesitate in the second half. Babson was called for a foul, giving Brandeis a
free kick at the top left corner of the box. This allowed Adam Kulick ’23 to send a ball deep into the box, giving Jake Warren the chance to head the ball into the goal. This was Warren’s second game winning goal in his career and first of the season. Goalkeeper Greg Irwin ’20 went on to make two big saves to help the Judges secure the win.
