Could this be a record breaking season for the Brandeis men’s soccer team? Early indications say yes. The Judges have won six straight to open this year’s campaign, scoring 30 times and giving up only one goal during that span.
Even before their most recent victory, the 2010 Judges, at 5-0, were off to their best start since the 1985 squad, which rattled off 14 straight wins to open the season. Their five consecutive wins marked the team’s longest winning streak in 10 years.
If it is looking to distinguish itself from the 1985 team, the 2010 squad may have done so with its most recent victory, a 13-0 drubbing of Newbury College (1-3) on a cold, rainy Gordon Field Thursday.
The 13 goal output set a new single-game scoring record for the Judges, who had previously scored 10 or more goals only twice – once in 1977 and once in 1986, a 12-0 win over Mass. Maritime.
Brandeis had outshot Newbury 32-1 by halftime and posted a decisive 52-2 shot advantage for the game. Steve Keuchkarian ’11 opened the scoring in the contest’s 10th minute, delivering off a cross from Joe Eisenbies ’13. It took just under twenty minutes for the Judges to double their lead, but Ben Applefield ’14 did so at 28:11, tapping in a chip shot from Eisenbies. Matt Peabody ’13, Eisenbies and Stephen Kostel ’11 added markers to give Brandeis a 5-0 lead at halftime.
The floodgates opened even more in the second, as Noah Bass ’12, Nick George ’14, Alexander Farr ’12, and Gil Jacobs ’14 made offensive contributions of their own – whether by head or by foot, off a strike or a turnover. Both George and Farr registered hat tricks – each the first of his career. Farr’s was of the natural variety; the junior forward tallied three consecutive goals in a span of four minutes and 13 seconds. It was the sixth fastest hat trick in NCAA Division III history and fastest in the Brandeis record books, besting Ben Premo’s ’08 previous Brandeis best of 7:35. George tallied personal goals number two and three – and team numbers eleven and twelve – during the 80th minute, before Jacobs concluded the scoring with his first career goal at 85:38.
It proved a very different conclusion to a week that started off with a 1-0 victory over Clark (3-3) on Saturday. Keuchkarian’s 12th minute strike, taken from inside the box, marked the only goal of the game. Taylor Bracken ’11 only needed to make one save, but it was a big one, as he foiled a Clark chance with just 1:37 remaining on the clock.
The following day, the Judges scored four first-half goals on their way to a 6-0 win against Colby-Sawyer (2-3). Prior to Thursday, the six goal differential was Brandeis’ largest of the season. Eisenbies, Farr, Bass, George, Kyle Feather ’14 and Luke Teece ’12 scored for Brandeis, with Matt Lynch ’11 and Blake Minchoff ’13 teaming for the shutout in net.
The Judges allowed their first goal of the year against WPI (3-3) on Tuesday. The goal against, scored by WPI’s Sean Calvert ’14 in the 80th minute, came with Brandeis up 3-0. Courtesy of Lee Russo ’13, the Judges jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 1:25 in; they have yet to trail at any point this season.
Brandeis looks to continue to assert its offensive prowess and defensive fortitude–and gain its seventh win of the season– Wednesday at MIT (5-2). Game time is 4 p.m.