The Justice

Left, midfielder Alex Zenerovitz '10 eludes the University of Rochester defense in the Judges' 2-1 loss Saturday. David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice

When University of Rochester sophomore midfielder Timmy McCarthy's shot in the seventh minute of overtime against the men's soccer team Saturday deflected off the post, it appeared the Judges had withstood yet another offensive barrage by the Yellowjackets. Instead, it was merely a prelude to another crushing overtime defeat at home.

Yellowjackets senior defender Bobby Milenovici controlled the rebound and connected for the game-winning goal on the shot, Rochester's 12th since halftime, sending the Judges to a 2-1 defeat in their University Athletic Association opener.

Brandeis is now 3-3-2 on the season, following a 3-2 overtime victory over Bridgewater State College Wednesday. A game against Colby-Sawyer College Monday ended too late for this edition.

Saturday's loss was the second consecutive home game that ended on a sudden-death goal in overtime for the Judges. They lost to Wheaton College 1-0 in similar fashion Sept. 19.

"We're not catching our breaks," goalie Taylor Bracken '10 said. "When you go into overtime, it's all about who gets lucky."

Following the game-winning goal by Milenovici-his first since his rookie season in 2004-Rochester players mobbed him just a few feet to the left of the Brandeis bench.

"We're trained to follow shots and get rebounds," Milenovici said. "I hit it as hard as I could. It was a typical UAA game; very tense."

Rochester got on the board early, benefiting from a fortunate bounce to take a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute. Yellowjackets senior defender Nick Mikolenko's corner kick deflected off Judges' rookie defender Nick Howard's '11 leg into the goal.

"I knew it was my fault, [but] I didn't feel like I could do much [to stop it]," Howard said. "I was afraid I was going to be the reason the team went into a slump, [but] I had to justify it with [the fact that] it could have happened to anyone, and move on."

With the Judges struggling, coach Mike Coven juggled his lineup with six substitutions between the 34th and 37th minutes.

One of the substitutions, midfielder Alex Mithoefer '09, took advantage of a Rochester miscue to tie the game at one in the 41st minute.

Continued...

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