After struggling to score despite a number of shots in its last few games, the women's soccer team once again found itself tied 1-1 in its University Athletic Association game against Emory University last Sunday at the end of the first half despite outshooting the Eagles 16-4 in that span. "We've been working on shooting a lot and working on our attack over the past week, so the girls were pretty focused on that," assistant coach Kerry O'Malley said. "We had a lot of opportunities in the first half [and] we outshot them 16-4, so we were getting after them, [but] we just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. Once we got our second goal the rest just kept on coming."

But in the 58th minute Judges midfielder Mimi Theodore '12 scored her seventh goal of the season on a header to give the team a 2-1 lead, the first of three goals in a 10-minute span for the Judges to help them pull away for a 4-2 win.

The victory was the Judges' first in UAA play this season.

Brandeis is now 7-4-3, 1-2-1 in the UAA after tying Carnegie Mellon University 1-1 in double overtime last Friday night.

The win marked two other milestones for the Judges. Head coach Denise Dallamora became the 16th coach in Division III women's soccer history to win her 250th game, while forward Melissa Gorenkoff '10 set the school's all-time assist record with 24, surpassing Kelly Vaughan '88.

The win also handed Emory its first home loss in 27 games. Its last loss came Oct. 27, 2006 against the University of Rochester.

Brandeis struck first early against Emory, when forward Tiffany Pacheco '11 scored in the fourth minute off of Gorenkoff's record-breaking assist. But the Eagles came back to tie it up later in the half with a header goal by Eagles sophomore forward Caroline Coates off a deflection from a corner kick.

"We pretty much controlled the first half. Our girls were really focused," O'Malley said. "They came out with a lot of intensity and a lot of composure, but we had a breakdown in the back, and Emory scored a goal-it was kind of bobbling around in the box, the ball was."

After Theodore's goal gave the Judges' the 2-1 lead, the team put the game away with two quick goals in less than three minutes.

Gorenkoff added to her historic day with an unassisted goal in the 65th minute to put the Judges up 3-1. Then in the 67th minute, Theodore struck again, scoring off a free kick off of rookie defender Stevie Phillis' '13 second assist of the year. The goal was Theodore's team-leading eighth goal of the season after scoring just three all of last year. It also gave her a team-high 20 points on the season after having just eight last season.

"One thing that was big [in the second half] was that their goalkeeper kept dropping the ball in the first half, so we made sure at halftime we told the girls they needed to focus on following up any shots. So any shots that we took from the outside we needed players to follow up on the keeper if she drops it, and I think we just put a lot of pressure on their defense and we put a lot of pressure on their goalkeeper, and that's what enabled us to score," O'Malley said.

Emory got a late goal from senior midfielder Olivia Lezanski in the 81st minute, but Brandeis was able to hold on for the win.

Midfielder/defender Alanna Torre '12 also returned for both games after injuring her knee last weekend against Rochester.

Last Friday, the Judges tied Carnegie Mellon 1-1. Theodore scoring her sixth goal of the season in the 66th minute on a one-on-one, but the Tartans struck back just under two minutes later in the 68th minute when sophomore midfielder Elsa Wu scored off a deflection in the box.

The Judges had four shots in the extra sessions and Carnegie Mellon had three, but neither team was able to put another ball in the net.

"It was just one of those games [in which] we had a lot of shots on goal, the ball would bounce around in the box, and we just couldn't knock into it," O'Malley added. "I think one thing we tell the kids every game is they need to play for 90 minutes, they can't have a mental breakdown. . They need to stay focused the whole game, and I think that the goal that [Carnegie Mellon] scored was one of our mental breakdowns. We kind of got a little casual and we got a little too composed and lost a little bit and that's how they [Carnegie Mellon] got through."

Brandeis next plays at Bowdoin College Thursday at 3 p.m.