All good things must come to an end and the women's soccer team found out the hard way on Saturday when they dropped their UAA opener against the University of Rochester, 3-1. The team had one of the longest win streaks in school history before suffering the loss.The heartbreaking loss to the Yellowjackets was not the first game of the week for the Judges. On Sept. 28, the women recorded their eighth consecutive win, narrowly defeating Westfield State 1-0 in overtime. Entering this match, the talented Judges were ranked an impressive fourth in New England and 24th nationally.

Adverse weather contributed to the women's inability to capitalize on one of their many scoring opportunities in regulation. A noticeably inferior team, Westfield State was acclimated to playing on their field of artificial turf, but neither team was prepared for the rainy conditions which, according to captain Melissa Gordon '05, made the turf comparable to "playing on wet carpet."

"We were shooting a lot, but were unable to finish," Gordon said.

The Judges were finally able to put one in the back of the net in the second overtime period, when Lauren Gregor '06 took advantage of a defensive error by Westfield. Brandeis crossed it into the box where it was mishandled by the goalie. Gregor was there to one-touch it in.

"Their goalie made some great saves, and we managed to take advantage of one of the only rebounds she gave up all game," Gregor said. "I was in the right place at the right time."

Brandeis' deficient play in the win over Westfield continued as the team made the five-hour bus ride to Rochester, N.Y., where they encountered another artificial surface. The ball moves much faster on turf than on grass, making it more difficult to string together passes and finish scoring opportunities.

Both teams were scoreless in the first half, thanks to hustling defense and few quality shots on net. But Rochester came out strong in the second half and recorded a goal less than five minutes into the half, when a corner kick was deflected and eventually kicked past Judges goalkeeper Natasha Pieciak '06.

At halftime, Brandeis altered its formation to include three forwards instead of two by moving one of four backfield defenders up to where she could be a scoring threat. Coach Denise Dallamora decided to focus more scoring power up front in order to try to produce a goal. Although this tactic gives more responsibility to the defense, it can also be very productive if more scoring opportunities are produced.

While the Judges were still trying to recover from the 1-0 deficit, the Yellowjackets struck again, this time with a 35-yard shot perfectly placed over Pieciak's head of to make it 2-0.

Brandeis was not yet ready to roll over and take the loss, and they surged with a goal of their own. Brittany Douglass '06 answered back with an accurate shot of her own that found the back of the net and cut the score in half to 2-1.

Unfortunately for the Judges, Rochester had one more goal in their arsenal, when a breakaway resulted in an unassisted goal to conclude the scoring and ensure the win for Rochester.

"All of the goals in the game were quality," Gordon said. "The playing surface was hard to get used to and the ball moved really fast, but we can bounce back from this loss."

The Judges will get their chance on their home field when they take on Tufts at 4 p.m.