The Brandeis men’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday 2-1 against Clark University but rebounded on Wednesday with a 3-1 defeat of Babson.
Brandeis and Clark were both undefeated heading into their match-up, Brandeis at 2-0-0 and Clark at 2-0-1. The hard-fought game was scoreless until the 15th minute, when Ben Premo ‘09 was fouled in the penalty box, setting up a penalty shot taken by Patrick Metelus ‘10. Metelus converted, giving Brandeis the lead. The celebration would not be long lasting, however; Clark’s Baran Doenmez ‘11 found himself in the same position as Metelus just six minutes later, and he too found the back of the net with his penalty shot, giving him five goals in just four games.
For the third game in a row, Brandeis head coach Mike Coven opted to switch goalkeepers at halftime, sitting Tyler Bracken ‘10 and his two saves in favor of promising rookie Sean O’Hare. The Brandeis defense tightened, O’Hare made saves in the 52nd and 59th minutes, and the game looked to be headed for a tie until the 72nd minute. Jenner Alpern ‘09 found Adrian Blackadar ‘12 clear near the Brandeis net, and the Clark rookie buried his shot to give Clark a 2-0 lead they would not relinquish.
The game was a highly physical battle, with a total of 49 fouls and four yellow cards being handed out, mostly in the second half. Brandeis’s play was sloppy; they took only five shots, seven fewer than Clark, and none of them came from the eight Brandeis substitutes. The Judges were whistled for five offsides violations, keeping them from any offensive momentum.
Brandeis got the chance to rebound four days later, however, and they took full advantage thanks to the powerful Ben Premo. After a scoreless first half, Babson took a brief lead at the 47 minute mark when their star forward Tim Winn ‘09 snuck the ball past Sean O’Hare, who was making his first start in the Brandeis net. Patrick Metelus answered for the Judges just nine minutes later with his fourth goal of the year, once again converting after being called on to take a penalty kick.
From then on, Premo took over. In the 87th minute, Alex Zenerovitz ‘10 made a beautiful pass, setting up a difficult play that Premo converted for the lead. Two minutes later, Premo played the role of set-up man, serving a feed to Alexander Farr that the rookie finished for his second goal of the year. When the dust had settled on the 3-1 victory, Premo had earned three points on a remarkable eight shots, helping Brandeis double Babson’s shot total. Brandeis’s offensive advantage was made even clearer by their 8-1 edge in corner kicks.
Brandeis is now 3-1-0 on the season, averaging almost three goals a game while allowing less than one and converting almost 18% of their shots. They’ve dominated their opponents in almost every offensive category, and the one-two punch of Premo and Metelus have combined four eight goals. Brandeis’s next match is on Monday, September 15th at home against Colby-Sawyer at 7:00 PM.
