Continuing its undefeated start to the season, the No. 9 men’s soccer team tallied off two more great wins this past week, with victories at Lasell College on  Tuesday  and at home against Clark University on Saturday evening. After escaping Lasell with a 1-0 victory last Tuesday, the Judges offense came back to life with a 4-0 hammering of Clark on Saturday. 

The Judges got on the board early in a rain-drenched match against Clark  in the 11th minute when midfielder Josh Ocel ’17 lifted a through ball to forward Michael Soboff ’15 who one-timed it into the bottom right corner to give the Judges a 1-0 lead. The one-goal advantage quickly doubled in the 17th minute when forward Tyler Savonen ’15 struck the back of the net from just inside the box off an assist from forward Mike Lynch ’17. With his goal, Savonen became only the 10th player in Brandeis’s history to record 30 career goals. 

Savonen said that he did not think much of the moment as it occurred. 

“[I] didn’t really think about it at the time because the bigger focus was on getting a good home result against Clark,” he said.  

Once the game was over, Savonen was able to reflect on his place in Brandeis history. Savonen commented that “that goal was special to me because I now am tied with Sam Ocel [’13 M.A. ’14] on the career scoring list and Sam and I have had a running goal scoring competition for the past two years, which started with the summer league team we both played on.” 

Savonen went on to say that Sam Ocel was one of his mentors on the squad and challenged him to develop as a player. 

“He was such an influential person for me and always pushed me to better myself, so scoring that goal and tying him on the list means the world to me,” he  said. 

“I know the competitive side of him will be mad that I caught him, but we both know I wouldn’t be where I am without him.” 

The Judges cooled down for the rest of the first half, but once again added another tally to the scoreboard in the 64th minute. 

The younger Ocel was on the receiving end this time when he took a long pass from forward Evan Jastremski ’17. His dart went off the keeper’s hands and into the left of the box, giving the Judges a 3-0 lead.

Ocel’s great night was not over yet, when in the 70th minute he notched his team-leading fifth assist of the season and fourth point of the contest— a corner kick that forward Zach Vieira ’17 put into the back of the net. 

Vieira headed the ball in and gave the Judges a commanding 4-0 advantage that they would not relinquish. 

Not only are Ocel’s five assists leading the Brandeis team, but are is also tied for the most in the University Athletic Association. 

Even though the team did have four goals, Clark freshman goalie Connor Maguire still had an outstanding 12 saves in the game. He was forced to as the Judges outshot Clark by a count of 27-6, and specifically 16-1 on shots on goal. 

Brandeis goalie Joe Graffy ’15 only had to make one save in his 74 minutes of action. In his college debut, goalie Ben Woodhouse ’18 was virtually untested in his 16 minutes of game-time action in relief of Graffy.  

Unlike the game against Clark, when the Judges faced Lasell College on Tuesday evening they struggled to convert scoring opportunities into goals. 

The squad had many opportunites, though, as they had 21 shots in the game, as opposed to Lasell’s four. Lasell’s junior goalie, Miguel Colmenares, was forced to make eight saves, tying his career high. Graffy, meanwhile, only had to make one save in the entire contest. 

The Judges’ defense was again extremely solid, as they allowed Clark only one corner kick while the Judges offense was able to attain six attempts of their own. It was simply a matter time until the Judges converted on one of their corner kicks. 

After squandering opportunity after opportunity, the Judges were finally able to break the stalemate in the 83rd minute. Ocel took a corner kick for the Judges and lofted the ball to the far post. Vieira was there and headed it back to the right and into the goal to give the Judges the 1-0 advantage. 

The goal was Vieira’s second game winner in as many games. 

This week, the Judges travel to Worcester Polytechnic Institute tomorrow for a game beginning at 7 p.m. and a home contest against local rival Tufts University on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.