The women's soccer team was only 5 1/2 minutes away from forcing overtime against one of the top teams in the nation last Sunday. But the Judges' hopes of salvaging at least a tie against No. 15 Washington University in St. Louis were dashed in the 85th minute when Bears rookie midfielder Lee Ann Felder scored the game-winning goal on a diving header. "One of the midfielders left their mark, and they got a nice cross in front of the goal, and that unmarked player came through and scored it," coach Denise Dallamora said.

WashU's 2-1 victory dropped the Judges to 8-5-1 on the season and 2-2 in University Athletic Association play. Last Friday, the Judges defeated the University of Chicago 1-0.

The Bears got on the board first in last Sunday's game when reserve rookie midfielder Rachel Haas scored her first collegiate goal in the 44th minute on a loose ball in front of the net. Some of the Brandeis players said she was aided by what they felt was a controversial non-foul call by the referees.

"[Defender Meredith Milstein '09] went to go kick the bal,l and the girl pushed her down," defender Abby Shields '10 said. "She was facing away from the goal, and the ball was in front of her, and [the Washington player was] kicking her and kicking the ball. [Milstein] barely went to go stand up, and [Wash U] pushed her down. Then, [the WashU player] kicked it into the far corner . and [Haas] tapped it in."

"The first [goal] was a bad call, to be honest," Milstein said. "They had a foul inside our box and the ref didn't call it. But they just got numbers off, and they were able to get the shot off."

The Judges tied the score in the 73rd minute when Shields took a cross from forward Tiffany Pacheco '11 and knocked it into the net for her first goal of the season.

"It was a great cross from [Pacheco]-she crossed, it and it wasn't even really that high up in the air; it was kind of right where my foot was, and I just ran it and kicked it right," Shields said. "The goalie was right there, and I just kicked it to the corner."

Shields, who has played on offense at times throughout her college career, played at the forward position briefly in the second half.

"I used to play forward all the time when I was younger and [Dallamora] sometimes throws me in," Shields said. "Today we were down a goal and we just needed to really pressure the backs, and I have a lot of speed so she threw me up there."

Felder answered with the game-winning goal 12 minutes after Shields' score.

Brandeis got its first UAA win of the season last Friday, defeating the University of Chicago 1-0. Despite being outshot 24-8, the Judges took advantage of one of their few scoring opportunities when forward Melissa Gorenkoff '10 sent the ball to reserve forward Mimi Theodore '12, who scored from about 12 yards out in the 55th minute.

Goalie Hillary Rosenzweig '10 made seven stops in net, including two that came within a 41-second span of each other in the second half, to preserve the shutout.

Despite the Judges' .500 record in conference play, Milstein said she still believes they have a shot at the UAA title.

"It's really jumbled right now in conference," Milstein said. "Some teams we beat have lost to other teams that we beat, so it's really mixed up right now, and I think if we keep coming and playing the way we've been playing and we do well in our next couple of conference games we'll do really well."

The team will host Bowdoin College Thursday at 7 p.m. and Roger Williams University Monday at 4 p.m.