Last Friday night, the Brandeis men’s soccer team faced their no. 3 nationally ranked cross town rivals, Tufts University Jumbos, on their home field. Tufts started off strong against Brandeis by scoring within the first 80 seconds of play, when the Jumbos took advantage of miscue in front of the net and found an opening on the six-yard line. The Jumbos took another opportunity about nine minutes later when a Jumbo fed the ball to a teammate who headed the ball towards the goal, to deflect off a Brandeis defender into the goal to earn them the second goal of the night.
The Judges ended the second half of the game down 2-0 but fought their way back onto the scoreboard. In the 60th minute of play, junior Jake Warren ’20 chipped a long free ball kick given by senior Josh Handler ’19 over the Jumbo goalie to get the Judges on the board. The Judges had two terrific opportunities to get back on the board almost coming within a minute of each other. Bryant Nardizzi ’20 had a clean shot in the 53rd minute and Brandon Miskin ’19 almost 60 seconds later that was just saved by the Jumbo’s goalie. The Judges tailed the Jumbos in shots 17-16, with the Judges dominating in the second half with 10-8 shots on goal. The Judges goalie junior Noah Cohen ’20 made a career-high five saves in his first 90-minute game. Unfortunately, it was the only mark the Judges made and fell to the Jumbos 2-1. Brandeis falls to 17-21-2 in the series against the Jumbos.
The Judges took the pitch again against Wheaton on Tuesday, Sept. 25. Brandeis and Wheaton played a fairly even match in the first half with Wheaton edging out the Judges 7-6 in shots. Wheaton almost had a shot to put themselves on the board, but the shot hit the far post and the ball spun away from the goal line. Noah Gans ’21 had three shots on goal. It was junior transfer Bryant Nardizzi ’20 who put the Judges on the board in the 53rd minute of play with a solid shot on goal to beat the goalie. The goal was assisted by rookie Jared Panson ’22 with a perfectly executed give and go. This goal puts Nardizzi fifth team-leading in goals this season. The Judges junior goalie Greg Irwin ’20 made a save to secure the game for the Judges. The Judges finished with a 17-13 edge on Wheaton in shots and both goalies made four saves each. This shutout will earn Irwin’s third of the season and fourth in his career.
The Judges start University Athletic Association (UAA) conference play on Saturday, Sept. 29 for their annual Homecoming game against Case Western Reserve University and then head to Cambridge for their game against MIT on Oct. 2.
