After homecoming, the Brandeis women’s soccer team played their next two games away. Their first game was on Oct. 14, and it was a University Athletic Association (UAA) game against the University of Rochester. Last year, in their late-season matchup, the Judges took the lead midway through the second half to give them a 2-1 victory. In the past two games, the Judges have had some slow starts, so they looked to get going early in this game. Senior midfielder Caroline Swan ’23 quickly had the first shot of the game in just the first minute, but the shot went wide. Sophomore defender Morgan Collins ’25 had the first shot on target a few minutes later, but it was saved by the Rochester goalie. The Judges kept the offense going with a shot by senior forward Juliette Carreiro ’26 in the seventh minute. However, even with all these shots, they couldn’t find the back of the net. Rochester responded with a few shots of their own, but they barely got any shots on target. All of a sudden it was half time, and the game was tied 0-0. The two teams were tied with five shots each through the first half, but Brandeis had three shots compared to Rochester’s one shot on target.
The Judges continued to put pressure on the Rochester defense going into the second half. Junior forward Yasla Ngoma ’24 had a shot within the first six seconds of the half, but it went wide. Carreiro also had a few more shots but they were blocked and saved. Brandeis was controlling the pace on offense, but they just could not get anything into the net. It seemed like the game might just end in a draw. Then in the 85th minute, Rochester finally broke through and scored a goal to give them a 1-0 lead. The Judges couldn’t respond within the last five minutes and fell to Rochester in heartbreaking fashion 0-1.
Brandeis outshot Rochester 8-3 in the second half and had two shots on goal compared to Rochester’s one. However, that one shot on target was the only goal of the game. Sophomore goalie Hannah Bassan ’25 had one save in the game. Carreiro led the team in shots with five with Collins and Ngoma following her with two shots each. The Judges had eight corner kicks compared to Rochester’s one. Brandeis and Rochester were relatively even in fouls, as the Judges had seven and Rochester had nine.
After a few losses in a row, it was time for the Judges to turn it around. They traveled to Emory University on Oct. 16 for another UAA game. In their battle last year, the Judges scored a goal halfway through the first half and that goal proved to be the only goal in the entire game, so they won 1-0. The start to this year’s game was quite the opposite. Junior forward Sydney Lenhart ’24 got the game started with a shot over the goal. Then Emory came out firing on offense with five unanswered shots. The fifth shot went into the net at the 15th minute to give Emory an early 1-0 lead. For the rest of the half, Brandeis could not get their offense going; it was all Emory. The Judges could not even get another shot off until the 39th minute. This shot was by senior defender Meaghan McDonough ’23 but it sailed over the goal. At the end of the first half, it was clear that Emory was controlling the pace of the game. Emory had 11 shots in the first half compared to Brandeis’ two. Three of those 11 shots were on goal, while the Judges had no shots on goal in the first half.
The second half immediately showed promise, as Swan took advantage of a loss of control from Emory and sent the ball toward Carreiro. Carreiro took advantage of a great pass and scored to even the game at 1-1 just 21 seconds into the second half. It was Carreiro’s eighth goal of the season and Swan’s fifth assist of the season. The Judges were right back in the game. However, that momentum began to slip as Emory once again started firing shots on offense. Emory scored again on a penalty kick in the 52nd minute to take the lead. Swan nearly equalized the game less than a minute later, but the shot was saved by the Emory goalie. Brandeis had a few more opportunities to tie the game, but they could not score. Emory put the game out of reach in the 79th minute with their third goal of the day. The Judges couldn’t make the comeback and they ended up losing 1-3.
From start to finish, the Emory offense kept Brandeis on their heels. Emory overall outshot Brandeis 23-8, with eight of those shots being on target for Emory and three of those shots being on target for Brandeis. Bassan had five saves in the game. The two teams were even with four corner kicks each. It was a very physical game overall, as both teams had 12 fouls each. Carreiro’s goal tied a career high for goals in a season and was her 24th goal of her career. Swan’s assist puts her one behind her career high for assists in a season set at six.
After a few consecutive losses, the Brandeis women’s soccer team is now 6-6-1 overall and 0-4 in conference games. They look to turn their fortunes around in an away game against the University of Southern Maine on Oct. 23. This will be their last away game of the season. Following that game, they will finally return for a home game against Washington University on Oct. 28.
