It took less than two minutes in its game against Bowdoin College for the women's soccer team to establish early momentum and erase the memory of its 8-1 loss to the Polar Bears last year.Forward Kelly Cozzens '11, starting in just her third game this year, scored off a rebound from forward Melissa Gorenkoff '10 to give the Judges an early 1-0 lead en route to a 3-0 victory over Bowdoin, ranked third in the New England region, according to NCAA.com, last Thursday.

"Sometimes [scoring early] can be a curse, because you can sit back," coach Denise Dallamora said. "But [our players] really didn't; they played well."

The win moves the Judges to 9-5-1 on the year. Brandeis also played Roger Williams University last night, but the game ended too late for this edition.

"Everyone played great, especially with Bowdoin, since we lost 8-1 to them last year," Gorenkoff said. "It's always fun to get a win, no matter who's playing."

The Judges played without forwards Tiffany Pacheco '11 and Izabella Miranda '12, who came into the game first and second on the team, respectively, in scoring. Pacheco had an ankle injury, and Miranda was nursing a knee injury. Dallamora said neither injury was serious and that they both should play in the Judges' next game.

With Brandeis ahead by one after the early score, Gorenkoff added a goal in the 62nd minute when she hit a long shot from about 25 yards out that landed in the upper left corner of the net, giving the Judges a 2-0 lead. The goal was Gorenkoff's third of the season; she also leads the team with seven assists.

"[Gorenkoff's] been creating opportunities all year for us," defender Meredith Milstein '09 said. "She's a very unselfish player, . and finally she took a shot, and it was a gorgeous shot, and she just put it in. She always creates opportunities, and she was just able to capitalize on it."

The Judges then added an additional insurance goal just under six minutes later when forward Kaitlin Oldfield '12 headed in her own rebound to give Brandeis a 3-0 advantage, which it never relinquished.

The Judges won despite being outshot by Bowdoin 16-14, including 8-5 in the second half. Goalie Hillary Rosenzweig '10 made seven saves for the Judges, including three in the last four minutes of play.

When the Judges lost to Bowdoin 8-1 last season, they did so by allowing seven goals in the second half. Despite the blowout loss, some players, like Milstein, felt the Judges were the better team last year and were glad they were able to prove it this season.

"Last year was a fluke," she said. "We didn't lose to Bowdoin last year because they were a better team than us. We lost last year because we just had some breakdowns. This year we knew we were the better team still, and we knew that we should come out on top, and we went into it with a better mindset than we did last year, and we went in with incentive to win."

The Judges are currently 7-3-1 in their region, including a win against No. 3 Bowdoin, a tie against No. 10 Bridgewater State University and losses to No. 6 Springfield College and No. 7 Tufts University, as ranked on the NCAA.com Web site. With four games remaining (including yesterday's game), Dallamora stressed the importance of winning every contest in order to increase the team's chances of making the NCAA Tournament.

"I think we have to win every game in order to have a chance to get an NCAA bid," Dallamora said before yesterday's game. "That's what I think. It's not up to me. The committee will look at it, and even if we lose a game, the committee looks at it and makes that decision, but I feel like we need to win out."

The Judges will return to conference play with home games Friday against No.18 Emory University at 5 p.m. and Sunday against New York University at 11 a.m.