Before the two contests of the past week, the Brandeis men’s soccer team was facing some tough defenses which led to struggles for their offense. Only one goal was scored in the Judges’ first six games of the season. That quickly changed when the Judges faced off against Bates College and Clark University.
In the game against Bates College on Sep. 25, both teams tried to get the edge early. Senior midfielder Jared Panson ’22 took the first shot of the game just 26 seconds into the game. The shot was saved and led to a turnaround for the Bobcats to go for goal. Their shot 20 seconds later was ultimately saved by junior goalie Aiden Guthro ’23. After a few shots from both teams, sophomore forward Max Horowitz ’24 had a great look on goal and took a shot in the 17th minute. This would turn out to be the first goal of the game and the first goal of his college career. The teams would exchange shots for the rest of the half but the six shots from Bates College and rest of the shots from the Judges would not lead to a goal. In the second half, the Bobcats started out slow but began putting on pressure with their one goal deficit. This would result in 11 shots from the Bobcats in the half compared to the Judges’ six. However, the Bobcats could not get a goal. Then in the 85th minute, the Judges sealed the victory with a goal from Panson on an assist from Horowitz. The final score of the game was 2-0 with a strong victory from the Judges.
Following the strong offensive performance against Bates College, the Judges looked to keep their offense rolling against Clark University on Sep. 29. The offense did not disappoint. In just the third minute, freshman forward John Loo ’25 took the first shot of the game and scored on an assist from Horowitz. This was Loo’s first goal of the season and college career and Horowitz’s second assist of the season. Brandeis continued to push their advantage by shooting another eight times in the half. Clark University would take only four shots in the half. However, one of those shots went in the 38th minute to even the game up before the half. Although the Judges were playing a strong game, they were committing a lot of fouls before the half. They had eight fouls at halftime. In the second half, the Judges wanted to eliminate the tie right away. Senior midfielder Evan Glass ’22 was the hero of the game as he scored the go-ahead goal in the 48th minute on an assist from senior midfielder Michael Burch ’22. This was Burch’s first assist of the season and Glass’ first goal of his college career. Clark University would take six shots in the half but none of them would go in. Guthro had two saves en route to the victory. The final score against Clark University was 2-1 with the second straight victory for Brandeis. The men’s soccer team will next play against Carnegie Mellon on Oct. 2.
