The Justice

Forward Ben Premo '09 fires a shot against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wednesday. David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice

After notching consecutive victories for the first time all season, the men's soccer team entered its game against No. 7 Case Western Reserve University Saturday looking to maintain its positive momentum. Instead, the game proved to be a reversal of fortune, as the Judges limped away with a loss and a potentially devastating injury.

Case Western capitalized on a penalty kick and a bevy of Brandeis miscues to win 3-0, sending the Judges to their second straight University Athletic Association defeat. Brandeis is now 5-4-2 on the season following 2-0 victories over Colby-Sawyer University last Monday and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wednesday.

"When you turn the ball over against an average team, it's not going to come back to haunt you, but, when you turn the ball over to a team that's [seventh] in the country, then they're going to take advantage of it," coach Mike Coven said.

The loss could prove to be even more costly, as goalie Taylor Bracken '10 was forced to leave the game after suffering a quadriceps injury in the 70th minute. His status for next week's games is unclear.

"He's day-to-day," Coven said.

The Spartans opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Judges defender Brett Fitzgerald '08 was whistled for a penalty inside the goalie box, and Case Western junior midfielder Kevin Bigart netted the ensuing penalty kick.

After the goal, Coven inserted midfielder Alex Ball '09, who was playing his second game after missing eight contests with a right shoulder injury, into the lineup. Though the Spartans outshot the Judges 3-2 for the rest of the half, Coven credited Ball with disrupting Case Western's offense.

Still, while the Judges were able to dictate the tempo for the final 35 minutes of the half, they couldn't capitalize with any scoring.

"It all comes down to scoring goals," Ball said. "For 35 minutes we were pressuring [Case Western], but if you can't put goals away you can't win games. The attack needs to come from the midfield; it's our responsibility."

The Judges' struggles worsened in the second half, as they suffered from untimely turnovers, inefficient offense and defensive communication problems.

Continued...

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