The Justice

Right, midfielder Alex Zenerovitz '10 tries to break up WPI's clearance attempt in the Judges' 2-0 victory. David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice

The men's soccer team just needed a break from University Athletic Association play. With five goals in two games this week, it seems the team has finally fixed its offensive woes.

After an uneventful first half Sunday, the Judges broke their three-game losing streak and got back to .500, defeating Worcester Polytechnic Institute 2-0. Brandeis is now 7-7-2 on the season and 0-4 in the University Athletic Association following Wednesday's 4-3 loss to Springfield College.

"A win is a win, it doesn't matter if it's an ugly or a pretty win," coach Mike Coven said. "It feels like a weight is lifted from my shoulders."

The victory-which came in a makeup game from the originally-scheduled Sept. 11 contest between Brandeis and WPI-was Coven's 399th career victory.

"It means how old I am. I'm an old guy." Coven said when asked about the impending milestone.

After a scoreless first half, the Judges scored twice in the span of eight minutes to put the game away. Midfielder Adam Guttman '08 and forward Evan Duval '08 notched the two goals, scoring in the 49th and 57th minutes, respectively.

The Judges maintained possession more than the Engineers throughout the first half, yet failed to land any of their shots in the net. Despite controlling the ball more than WPI, they were actually outshot 5-3 before the break.

"We struggled on every aspect in the first half of the game," forward Ben Premo '09 said. "We had no composure."

After halftime, however, the Judges played like a completely different team. As all the players on the bench stood to watch the game's action, their teammates finally broke through in the 49th minute on Guttman's first goal of the season.

"The credit goes out to my teammates," Guttman said. "The ball was bouncing in the box, I just finished it up."

The second goal occurred in the 57th minute when Premo assisted Evan Duval '08, who finished by tapping the ball into the net.

"In the second half we had more energy, and it worked," Duval said. "We did what we had to do to win."

The game could have been even more lopsided, but the Judges missed several scoring opportunities. Premo broke through WPI's defense easily a number of times and had a couple of clear shots on goal that went wide or deflected off the crossbar.

Continued...

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