The women’s soccer team posted a 2-0 record this week, defeating Case Western Reserve University 2-0 on Sunday and Eastern Nazerene 2-0 last Tuesday. 

With the victory on Sunday, the Judges, ranked no. 11 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, improve to 11-1-1 overall and 1-1 in University Athletic Association play.

Judges 2, Case Western 0

The Judges earned their first UAA victory of the season Sunday in visiting Case Western. Midfielder Alec Spivack ’15 netted her second goal of the season just six minutes into the contest. Forward Samantha Schwartz ’18 passed the ball to Spivack just outside the 18-yard box and Spivack sent the ball to the back of the net.

Forward Lea McDaniel ’17 scored on the team’s second shot of the game in the 18th minute on a header off a corner kick from midfielder Holly Szafran ’16. 

On the goal, McDaniel remarked that “Holly served a great ball into the box where I just headed it towards goal. Haley [Schacter] then screened the goalie and flicked it over her head into the back of the net. It was our first goal scored off a corner, and we were able to successfully execute what we have been working on at practices.”

It was Szafran’s 16th career assist, as she is now tied for seventh overall in assists in Brandeis women’s soccer history. 

McDaniel now ranks second in the UAA with six goals scored and is tied for the lead in points with a total of 14. 

The Judges had seven shots on goal and did not allow Case Western a shot on goal until the 89th minute of the contest. 

It was the ninth shutout of the season for Brandeis.

Though Brandeis won the game, Szafran said in an email to the Justice that the team still has areas where they can improve. 

“We did really well on set pieces so we just have to continue to grow and work on the final ball, and finishing the chances we have,” Szafran said. 

Judges 2, Eastern Nazerene 0 

Szafran scored the game winner in the seventh minute in a game hosted by Brandeis when she received a through-ball pass from back Hannah Maatallah ’19. The pass went through a few Eastern Nazerene defenders, and Szafran one-touched the ball into the goal. 

Szafran was quick to credit Maatallah for setting up the shot that ultimately led to her goal. “[Maatallah] dribbled it up the middle and cut in and found me running across the inside of the box and I one touched it in the corner. It was a great lead up and a great run by Hannah. She did all the work for that goal,” Szafran wrote in an email to the Justice.

Forward Cidney Moscovitch ’17 scored again for the Judges in the 16th minute off a pass from Melissa Darling ’16 from the left sideline. It was Moscovitch’s 10th career goal.

Brandeis tallied 34 total shots, 19 of which were on goal. They limited Eastern Nazerene to just one shot, not on goal. 

The Judges were coming off their first loss of the season the game before to Carnegie Mellon. Szafran said the loss actually helped the team in their mentality.

“[The loss] was basically a solid wake up call and we knew we had to change our mentality because teams are going to go at us and know our weaknesses from the loss,” Szafran commented. “We worked a lot on shots the practice after and it showed in the Eastern Nazerene game.”

Szafran said she is excited for what the future holds for the team. “We're doing amazing and need to keep a positive mentality and we'll go really far this year,” she said.

The squad is looking to build off of a succesful 2014 to 2015 season.

Last year, the team finished with an overall record of 13-5-2, in which most of the struggle came from conference play.

This season, the Judges’ lone defeat came at the hands of conference foe Carnegie Mellon University 2-0 on Oct. 3 at home.

The team will look to improve upon the three losses that it accumulated in last season’s UAA conference play.

The Judges return home for more UAA games during Homecoming weekend, playing the University of Chicago at 4 pm on Friday and welcoming the No. 7 team in Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday afternoon. 

Chicago has put together the start of a successful season, as it has gone 8-4 up to this point while splitting its first two games in conference play.

Chicago's UAA loss was due to a 1-0 defeat to the University of Rochester on Saturday.

WashU, on the other hand, has dominated the competition on its schedule in the first twelve contests of the long season.

It has won its first two UAA games to record an overall record of 11-1.

The Judges will need to win both of these difficult matches if it hopes to leap over WashU and Carnegie to move into first place in the UAA standings.