After 87 minutes of scoreless play, Lisa Kaplin '07-sporting No. 7 on her back-scored her seventh goal of the season and earned the women's soccer team its seventh win of the season, a 1-0 win over St. Joseph's College Sunday. Kaplin's first goal in six games snapped the Judges' four-game losing streak and lifted their record to 7-6-1.Despite having four injured starters watching from the sideline, Christine Fulton '07, Rachel Koffman '06, Brittany Douglass '07 and Lizzie Bremner '08, the Judges were able to generate 15 shots to the Monks' 11 while holding the Monks' speedy forwards to just three shots on goal. Betsey Medow '08 earned her fourth shutout of the season with three saves.

Two of the three shots on goal in the first half came dangerously close to finding the net. One St. Joseph's goal was revoked after the scorer was ruled offsides. Later in the half, a free kick cleared just over Medow's reach, but careened off the crossbar and was handled by the Brandeis defense.

"The offsides call came late, so for a second we all thought they had really scored," Kaplin said. "And the free kick was a close call. I thought it was going in."

Brandeis took a half to warm up, coming out slow but dominating in the second half.

"In the first half, we played OK but not great," coach Denise Dallamora said. "In the second half, we really possessed the ball well, slotted the ball to feet and switched fields well."

The team finally cashed in when captain Lauren Gregor '06, playing in the unfamiliar center-midfielder position, fed Kaplin the ball with under three minutes remaining in the game. Kaplin collected the ball and juked past the last defender before calmly slotting it far-post for the game-winner.

"Every time I had awesome balls served through to me, I would either give them right to the keeper or they would go just wide of the goal," Kaplin said. "But right before I scored, I felt it was going in. It was just the perfect through ball and a clean finish."

Because of the recent injuries, the team's defense shifted to a flat-back three formation, which features a line of three defenders in front of the goalie. Though inexperienced with such a setup, defenders Margot Moinester '09, Kalina Ehrenreich-Piot '08 and Melissa Gordon '07 were able to switch fields and feed the midfielders and forwards with scoring opportunities.

"The team played really well together by combining passes to keep possession for the majority of the game, even though we weren't familiar with the formation," Gordon said.

The Judges will need to use the momentum from Sunday's win if they hope to secure a berth for post-season play. The team's 7-6-1 record puts it on the bubble for earning an ECAC tournament berth, and likely on the outside looking in at an NCAA berth.

"Coming back from a four-game losing streak is hard," Kaplin said. "This was such a satisfying win, and having that feeling of just winning a game is really important for our upcoming tougher UAA games. We need to be confident going in."

The Judges take on host Plymouth State University Wednesday at 4 p.m. in their last non-conference game before hosting Washington University in St. Louis Friday at 7:30 p.m.