In the 37th minute of her final regular season game, captain and forward Sofia Vallone '11 placed the ball past New York University junior goalkeeper Rachel Ross to give the 25th-ranked Judges a 1-0 lead. It was all the women's team would need as it went on to defeat the Violets 2-0.With the win, the Judges improved their record to 14-4-1 (4-3 UAA) to cap off the most successful regular season campaign in Brandeis history. As a result, the team not only qualified for the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship Tournament but will also host the first two rounds of the tournament this weekend. The Judges will take on Castleton State College in the first round and then play the winner of Lasell College and Williams College if they are able to advance to round two.

"We are thrilled," Coach Denise Dallamore wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "We expect to win a hard fought battle between 2 good teams."

In the regular season finale, NYU had several opportunities, including a near goal from sophomore forward Serra Tumay in the 21st minute, a blocked shot in the 42nd minute and a crucial save in the 77th minute, but the Judges defense was able to hold the Violet offense in check. Brandeis held NYU to just eight shots, only three of which were on goal. Francine Kofinas '13 saved all three of them to earn her fifth shutout of the season and the Judges' 10th shutout of the campaign, just one shy of a school record.

Dallamora was happy that the team won its second straight UAA matchup following its victory over the University of Chicago the week before. "It feels great to beat two UAA teams," she said. "We did the same thing last year, beat Chicago then NYU. This year we did win one more game than last year."

Vallone broke the team into the scoring column in the 34th minute when she guided the ball from 25 yards out into the lower left corner of the goal off of a pass from Ellie Einhorn '11, giving the Judges a 1-0 lead they would never surrender.

The goal was Vallone's 17th of the season, tying her with Melissa Delowe '04 for the most goals in a single season in Brandeis history. Delowe accomplished the feat in 2003.

Additionally, with the 2 points from this game, Vallone finished the season with 40 points, second on the all-time list behind Delowe's 42 points from 2003. It was also Vallone's sixth game-winning goal of the season, one shy of the school mark set by Pam Vaughn '90 in both 1988 and 1989.

Dallamora noted that Vallone had put in a lot of training time, especially for shots of that length.

"[Vallone] has always been a great goal scorer," she said. "This year she has worked on her 25-yard range shot, and that has improved. Her last two goals were state-of-the-art."

The women padded their lead in the 69th minute when Einhorn was able to convert on a rebound from Ali Maresca's '12 shot that hit off the crossbar. With the goal and assist in her final game, Einhorn finished the season with three goals and three assists.

The Judges closed out the regular season with not only the best record in school history but also with a number of impressive team statistics. The women outshot their opponents 330-230 and outscored them by an astounding 48-12. The Judges posted a .485 shots-on-goal percentage and also tallied 37 assists in comparison to 10 by their opponents.

Within the UAA, the Judges lead the conference in shots, goals, points, goals per game, assists, assist per game, saves and shutouts.

Dallamora noted that the Judges' success is largely due to the team's hustle. "This year's team has a lot of heart," explained Dallamora. "A lot of dedication to persevere until they win."

Individually, Vallone leads all UAA athletes with 17 goals and 38 points and is tied for most game-winning goals with six. Forward captain Tiffany Pacheco '11 leads the UAA in shots with 99 and is tied with midfielder Mimi Theodore '12 for the conference lead with nine assists.

Kofinas tallied 85 saves this season and allowed only nine goals, for a save percentage of .904.

The team's game against Castleton will be on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. (not noon, as was originally reported in the Justice, due to a time change).



-Jeffrey Boxer contributed reporting.