The men's soccer team had their work cut out for them in trips to Wheaton College and University Athletic Association rival Case Western Reserve University.

Yet, despite facing two tough away tests, the No. 14 Judges kept their winning streak alive. After downing Wheaton on their home turf by a 2-1 margin on Tuesday afternoon, the team opened UAA play with an impressive 4-0 rout of Case Western Reserve University on Saturday. The squad improved to 10-1 on the season with the two consecutive victories.

"I was really satisfied by the performance of the whole team," said left-back Ben Applefield '14, who provided a goal and an assist in the 4-0 victory over Case. "[Our game against Case] was one of our most complete performances this season from start to finish. We seemed really focused from the start and played a complete match. There was about fifteen minutes at the start of the second half where we let the game get away from us a bit, but other than that I thought we were in control for most of the game."

Given that it was the Judges' conference opener, Brandeis was looking to make a statement. UAA games are usually influential in determining the team's eligibility to compete in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Judges got off to a fast start, scoring roughly halfway through the first half for a 1-0 advantage. Applefield opened his account for the season, running past two defenders and firing a left-footed shot into the top right corner for his first goal.
That was the lone goal of the first half, but it proved to be a sign of things to come in the second half. Four minutes after the break, the Judges scored again. A free kick from midfielder Kyle Feather '14 took a lucky deflection and fell to forward Michael Soboff '15 who tapped it in. Soboff finished the day with a team-leading two assists.

While the Judges had a 2-0 lead, it is often said that a two-goal advantage is never a safe margin in soccer. However, Brandeis ultimately put the game beyond all doubt in the 74th minute, as midfielder Jake Picard '16 scored off of a corner kick by Soboff to make it 3-0.

Brandeis, with the game well in hand, added a fourth goal with 11:24 left, through forward Zach Viera '17, who scored his third goal in as many games.

The Judges, though, came out of the gates at Wheaton much faster than their opponents did, taking a 10-7 first-half shot advantage over Wheaton. The pressure paid off in the 40th minute, as Viera took a ball from forward Michael Chaput '16 on the left wing and finished past Lyons' sophomore goalkeeper Matt Dickey for a 1-0 Brandeis lead.

Though it is often said that teams can be vulnerable just after scoring a goal, the Judges proved the opposite to be true. Just a few minutes later, at the 42:39 mark of the game, Chaput and Vieira combined to score once again.

This time, Viera proved the role of provider, as his shot from the left was deflected, which allowed Chaput to put home the rebound and the lead. The duo of reserves came up big and ended up providing all of the Judges' offense on a day when they would ultimately need it.

After a strong first-half performance, in which Brandeis dominated Wheaton in all areas of the pitch, the Judges let up in the second half and the Lyons took advantage, taking shot after shot on goalkeeper Joe Graffy '15.

While the hosts wouldn't be able to score on Graffy from open play, Wheaton junior forward Travis Blair got a penalty kick in the 78th minute, which he sent past the Judges' netminder to make it a one goal game. After controlling the first half with relative ease, it appeared that the visitors were about to let the game slip away.

Yet, it proved to be the last Wheaton opportunity of the day, and as a result, the Judges secured a valuable road victory.
Though the Judges were able to pull out the win against Wheaton, Applefield believes that the game proved that the team still has improvements to make.

"We've had some trouble this year putting in a full performance for 90 minutes," he said. "Against Wheaton, we did very well the first half and were up 2-0, but we made it really difficult on ourselves in the second half. Though we still won 2-1, they really dictated the flow of the game [during the entire second half]."

Applefield also noted that even though the match against Case was a rout, the Spartans were quite a difficult foe.

"Any conference game away from home is challenging," he said. "The conference will only get harder, so in order to continue to be successful, we'll need to be able to play well for 90 minutes and not just a half, or 60 minutes. However, we couldn't have asked for a better way to start the conference and now we'll try to keep building on it."

The Judges are off until Saturday, hosting the University of Rochester at 3 p.m. in what promises to be yet another exciting game.
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