Early in the first half of the women's soccer team's regular season finale against New York University, forward Tiffany Pacheco '11 sent a solid crossing pass to midfielder Mimi Theodore '12, who appeared to be in a prime position to head the ball home to break a scoreless tie. Theodore, though, did not get a good shot on the ball and headed it wide of the net. When she got a second chance at the tie-breaking goal just 65 seconds into the second half, however, Theodore did not disappoint.Theodore headed in a pass from forward Melissa Gorenkoff '10, who placed the ball perfectly from the end line to set up the only goal of a 1-0 victory for the Judges. The win put Brandeis at 9-6-3 and 3-3-1 in University Athletic Association play.

"I made sure that I was in the correct spot to be able to get the right position on it," Theodore said. "I knew that I just definitely had to focus where I had to be when [Gorenkoff] had the ball going [to the] end line, and she just placed it perfectly and I was able to run on to it and just follow through. Most of the time I have to go far post, and sometimes I go too much to the middle, so when that happens I usually misjudge the ball, and I don't get the right power and the right direction on the ball."

The Judges finished the season fourth in the UAA and sixth in the New England Region, putting them on the outside of the NCAA field of 63 teams that will have a chance at a National Championship. The team did earn a No. 1 seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England Women's Soccer Championship tournament and will look to win its third consecutive title in the eight-team field.

Coach Denise Dallamora said she was not surprised that the team missed the NCAAs, saying the squad would have had to have finished at least third or fourth in the region to receive a bid. She was disappointed, however, in the team's final UAA standing behind Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Rochester and the University of Chicago, after Chicago defeated the conference's top team, WashU, 3-0 to close out its season.

"If Chicago had lost [last Sunday against WashU] we would have been third. WashU and Chicago played each other at the end [of the season], and in the last few years WashU had secured the title already and play [Chicago] when they have nothing to lose," Dallamora said. "If WashU had to win to secure the conference, it would have been a different game."

Dallamora was excited, however, about the team's chance to win a third straight ECAC Championships.

"It's fun," she said. "We absolutely [are motivated to win]. We want an ECAC hat trick."

Against NYU, the Judges outshot the Violets 8-7 in an evenly played first half. However, in the second half, the Violets put the pressure on, getting off 12 shots compared to the Judges' four.

"We just didn't play the feet, that's all," Dallamora said. "Possession is passing to feet, so we just had to play a little bit of kick and run. We kind of lost our tempo late into the game."

Much of this pressure came off of NYU corner kicks. The Violets had seven in the second half, including five in an 11-minute span from the 49th to 60th minute. At one point in the half, Dallamora made an adjustment with Pacheco's position to try to prevent the Violets from getting several corner kicks in a row.

"[NYU is] pretty good at getting corners and put a lot of pressure on us," Dallamora said. "I moved [Pacheco] back to that far post because they kept getting second tries."

Goalie Hillary Rosenzweig '10 also got help from her defenders, particularly backs Francesca Shin '12 and Allison Maresca '12, who both cleared balls off the line after the switch.

Rookie defender Stevie Phillis '13 started the game in place of injured defender Alanna Torre '12. Dallamora said Torre has numbness in her hands and expects her to miss the postseason.

The match was the final regular season game for the team's two seniors, Gorenkoff and Rosenzweig, both of whom have had record-setting careers at Brandeis.

Gorenkoff extended her Brandeis career assist record with her 26th against NYU. She was also named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Tournament MVP last season, when she scored four goals in the team's three games despite aggravating an ankle injury in the semifinal match.

Rosenzweig set school records in both career wins and shutouts last weeks. She now has 36 career victories and 21 shutouts and has only allowed 13 goals in the team's 18 games this season.

"They've both had an awesome four years, and I'm going to miss them terribly," Dallamora said of Gorenkoff and Rosenzweig. "I don't want them to go at all. . The whole team will miss them. They're super players, super people, and they're going to be super in the real world."

The No. 1 Judges will next host No. 8 Castelton College in the opening quarterfinal round of the ECAC Tournament tomorrow at 6 p.m.

If they win, the Judges will play in the semifinals and final round of the tournament this weekend. Brandeis will host each round of the tournament in which the Judges advance.


-Ian Cutler contributed reporting.