Preparing for their first intercollegiate game in nearly four years Saturday, members of Brandeis' coed Football (Soccer) Club trickled on the field, each wearing a different white shirt. Forty-five minutes later, the all-male Worcester Polytechnic Institute club team arrived sporting matching uniforms and personalized soccer gear.

By the end of the game, however, it was clear that the Judges, despite only practicing once together, were the more cohesive team.

Using deft passing and strong midfield play, Brandeis jumped ahead early and blew out WPI 9-1 Saturday to win its first and possibly only game of the fall.

"We've been passing the ball well, and moving off the ball well," former club president Brian Goodman '08 said. "[We did] all the stuff that coaches talk about."

Brandeis dominated play in the first half, scoring six goals before WPI even attempted a shot. Midfielder Patrick Metelus '09 scored the first goal just three minutes into the game, and the Judges tacked on two more before the 20-minute mark to take a 3-0 lead.

The squad also had a similar flurry of goals late in the first half.

On a possession off a WPI turnover in the 37th minute, substitute midfielder Zach Pyle '09 found forward Tapiwa Mushove '09 wide open in the middle of the goalie box, and Mushove put home his own rebound after his first shot was saved.

Two minutes later, Mushove sped past the WPI defense on the left side of the field, and just as it looked like he would go out of bounds, snuck a shot underneath the goalie to make it 5-0.

"Man for man, I just think we were playing at a faster pace than they were," Goodman said.

The club hadn't played together in a game setting prior to Saturday, but that didn't seem to be the case based on the way they meticulously created chances for themselves with their passing.

Only two of the Judges' nine goals were unassisted, and most were the result of passes made through the WPI defense.

"They had crisp, short passes on the outside and back to center, and our defense was just running in circles around them," WPI captain Max Welker said.

Though the team only practiced together once, they developed chemistry through what current BFC president Charlie Gandelman '09 described as an underground network. The team developed relationships through regular pickup games during BFC meetings Tuesday and Thursday nights, while using intramural soccer to bring in new blood and practice playing together more.

"Soccer is a very close culture," Gandelman said. "It's not like basketball, where you can just go play pickup games. With soccer, you have to be organized, so it creates a kind of community of people who all know each other."

But while team members continued to play against each other, the thought of playing other schools had remained a pipe dream since the club's last intercollegiate game in 2004 against this same WPI squad.

This year, Gandelman decided to change that, and contacted WPI's athletic director in an attempt to set up a game. After Gandelman set up a time to play on Gordon Field, he and Welker agreed on the contest.

The next step was building a roster, but that proved to be Gandelman's easiest task.

Despite the short notice, 19 players committed to playing Saturday. The list included four former varsity performers-Metelus, Josh Hochman '09, Zach Cohen '09, Brooke Rosenbauer '09 and Lisa Frank '09-as well as several others, including Mushove and goalie Max Zotz '11, who were recruited but got cut during tryouts.

"We have such a high level of talent out there," Gandelman said. "Six or seven people on our team could have played [varsity] here or at another school."

Rosenbauer said the experience has been invaluable for her after she decided to quit the women's team in the fall of her sophomore year.

"It was a great place for me to stay in shape and when I quit varsity, I just wanted to keep playing soccer," she said.

The team has no more games scheduled this fall since it came together so late in the season, but Gandelman said he hopes to schedule more games during the spring, as well as for next fall.



Editor's Note: Charlie Gandelman '09, the president of the Brandeis Football (Soccer) Club, is a senior writer for the Justice. Lisa Frank '09 is an illustrator for the Justice.