Before the season, men's soccer coach Mike Coven, after losing his top seniors, expressed cautious optimism while assessing his team's chances for the 2012-13 season.

After winning the Keene State College Invitational Tournament, he must be more confident.

"We had a nice weekend," said Coven. "We made some mistakes which might come back to haunt us in our more difficult games, but we're definitely headed in the right direction. We're a pretty new team, but things are starting to come together pretty well for us."

The Judges beat Ithaca College and Keene State on Saturday and Sunday by scores of 3-0 and 4-0, respectively.

As a result, the squad-for the second straight year-won the tournament, which proves to be a good measuring stick for their progress this season.

The Judges replicated the offensive attack that gave them a 15-5-1 record last year early in their match against Ithaca. Brandeis was awarded a free kick just outside the box. Midfielder Sam Ocel '13 stepped up and curled the set piece around the wall and into the net, which caught the hosts flat-footed.

The Judges' struck again later in the first half when new holding midfielder Jake Picard '16 whipped in a cross for forward Tyler Savonen '15, who made no mistake in putting the Judges 2-0 up.

"[Picard] has done a good job at the defensive midfield position," said Coven. "Matt [Brondoli '14] and Joe [Eisenbies '13] have done a good job replacing Ari [Silver '12] and David [McCoy '12], who were two of our key players last year. They've done a much better job than I would have thought so far."

Midfielder Tudor Livadaru '14 got his name on the score-sheet soon after to make it 3-0. This time, Ocel was the benefactor rather than the beneficiary, sending a ball in to Livadaru with a good chance, which he converted.

"Tudor is much improved from last season," Coven said. "We like to play a controlled tempo with our game. Tudor is very fast and energetic, but once he learned to settle down, he really fit into our system. He did a very nice job [on Sunday]."

Brandeis then bettered its goal total from Sunday against Ithaca. Ocel notched his second goal of the game by finishing into an empty net to wrap up the scoring for the match.

Saturday was much of the same story for the Judges.

Forward Lee Russo '13, who led his team in scoring last season with nine goals, got the scoring started in the 31st minute by taking a feed from Savonen and slotting the ball into the net.
Russo doubled his tally in the 56th minute, burying a rebound from an Ocel shot to double the score.

Wingback Josh Hacunda '16 wrapped up the scoring late in the game, firing home a loose ball to give Brandeis its first win on the season.

There had been talk about moving wingbacks Ben Applefield '14 and Robbie Lynch '15 up to central midfield, as the middle of the park was where both had played before coming to Brandeis. However, Coven was quick to point out that playing outside back does not hinder their attacking capablities.

"We play a 4-3-3, so the wingbacks can often overlap down the flanks to give us some offense," he said. "[Applefield] especially loves to come down and play onto his left foot."

Despite the initial successes, Coven is not overconfident. The team has three tough tests at home this week. They play Colby-Sawyer College tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., followed by contests against Clark University on Saturday and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Sunday.

"We really hope to get some good fan support out there," said Coven. "I was really happy because about 10 or 20 Brandeis students drove up to New Hampshire to watch us. It was really great to have them there."

With this kind of early season form, this season could be just as good as the last.
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