Conference play has been a struggle for the women's soccer team all season, but the Judges closed out their week with a 2-0 win over visiting UAA foe Carnegie Mellon. With the win coming two days after a 3-2 double overtime loss to Emory University on Friday and a 6-1 thrashing of Plymouth State University last Tuesday, the Judges are 13-4 overall with a 2-4 conference record The Judges looked at their home finale as an opportunity to finish on a high note.

"We knew it was important to beat Carnegie Mellon," Melissa Gordon '05 said. "It was hard to lose to Emory but we looked at this game as an opportunity to make up for it."

The Judges used that mentality to drive them to a 2-0 victory in this Halloween match, playing defense that gave the Tartans nightmares.

Brandeis opened the scoring only seven minutes into the game. Jessica Druckman '06 crossed the ball to Lauren Gregor '05 who slammed it home for the first goal of the game and her 10th of the season. Later in the half, Sarah Jasek '08 recorded her first goal of the seaoson. Goaltender Natasha Pieciak '06 earned the shutout with eight saves and served the Tartans their first loss in a month.

Before hosting the Tartans, the Judges had to take on a much more challenging opponent in Emory. The Eagles traveled to Waltham and avenged a 2-0 Brandeis victory in Atlanta last year.

The Judges started off slow and were soon down a goal thanks to a misplayed ball in their box that was fired home by an Emory forward. The goal was a wakeup call, and only nine minutes later, Kaplin recorded her team-leading 11th goal of the season.

Later it was Koffman's turn to add a tally on the scoreboard. Finding herself with possession of the ball at the 30 yard line, she let loose a hard line drive shot right over the goalie's head and into the back of the net.

The Judges gave up the lead 10 minutes later when the Eagles manged to head in a corner kick.

The score was still tied when the final whistle blew, sending the game into its first 10-minute overtime period. Brandeis looked energetic and dominated, managing to put some hard shots on net but just narrowly missing scoring opportunities as the game went to another overtime period.

It was the Eagles' turn for a surge of momentum in the second overtime, and they put an end to the hard fought game with a hard shot just barely out of reach for Pieciak. A 30-yard pull of the trigger was all it took to give Emory the revenge they needed.

"The loss was disappointing, but overall we played very well," Dallamora said. "They played very hard and possessed the ball beautifully."

The week had started off on a high note with a 6-1 throttling of Plymouth State last Tuesday. This complete team effort incorporated seven different players taking part in either goals or assists.

The Judges travel to New York to take on NYU in their last regular season game on Saturday.