Coming through in the clutch is becoming the norm for men's soccer team forward Ben Premo '09 this season. The senior captain sent the Judges home with a 2-1 victory over Worcester Polytechnic Institute last Wednesday with a game-winning goal with just 51 seconds remaining in the second overtime.

"At that point I thought the game would end in a tie," coach Mike Coven said.

The Judges' record improves to 5-1 with the win. The Judges also played against Newbury College yesterday, but results came too late for this edition.

For Premo, it was his sixth goal of the season and second game-winner in the last three games. Premo broke a 1-1 tie in the 87th minute of a game against Babson College Sept. 10 to seal a victory for the Judges.

With the game tied at one after regulation, the teams played an even first overtime period. In the second overtime, Brandeis had late scoring chances and finally converted when midfielder Kevin Murphy '09 fed Premo for the game-winning goal.

"The play happened so fast," Coven said. "Premo just spun around and beat his man and fired a great shot into the side of the net."

The Judges could have put the game away just 40 seconds earlier when midfielder Corey Bradley '10 passed up the middle to Premo. Premo beat his man to the ball but struck the shot right at oncoming sophomore goalie Paul Moan, who made the save.

The Judges got on the board early in the first half when Murphy scored his first goal of the season, controlling a loose ball just outside the 18-foot goal box and putting it into the net.

WPI answered in the 34th minute when sophomore forward Mike Ford tallied his first goal of the season, a goal Coven attributed to the Judges' mindset.

"[Scoring early] might have been the worst thing that could've happened to us," Coven said. "WPI is an okay team, and by going in a little overconfident to begin with and then scoring early, we thought we'd run away with the game."

Coven said the team's defensive lapses against WPI have been a theme so far this season and said the team needs to make changes if they want to succeed against the tougher upcoming schedule.

"Right now, we're 5-1, but realistically, besides the Babson win, we haven't really played any great soccer teams," he said. "Our [University Athletic Association] schedule and some of our other games coming up are against really good teams, and we can't afford to keep losing the ball and giving it away in the defensive part of the field. If we do it against any of these other teams that we'll play, they'll score on us."

Coven said last Friday that he would start experimenting with different players on defense in practice for the rest of the week to see if he could find a suitable combination.

Coven said one change will be Murphy's permanent move to defense.

Murphy had been rotating with other players at midfield since recovering from a preseason stress fracture in his leg.

"I don't like to substitute the four guys in the back," Coven said, "I think in order for them to be successful they need to play together for the entire game. Before I put [Murphy] out there I wanted to make sure he was set to play a full 90 minutes, so I'm sure he pretty much is ready right now."

The change also allows for Alex Zenerovitz '10 to play as an attacking midfielder, something Murphy said will improve the team.

"I think this will help the team," he said. "The switch allows us to put [Zenerovitz] in the midfield where he was one of our best attacking players at that position last year, so it frees him up. I've also played a lot of defense in my career, so it's like going home for me."

Despite the defensive lapses, Coven said he is impressed by the Judges' resilience.

"I have to give our team credit," Coven said. "It takes a special quality to be a team that comes back and fights, and fortunately we're winning games because of our determination and our never-say-die attitude."

Brandeis will travel to Wheaton College for a game Saturday at 1 p.m. Last year, Wheaton handed the Judges a 1-0 home loss.