NORTON, MA (courtesy Wheaton College) - Junior Nick Johnson (South Portland, ME/South Portland) scored twice in a 2:04 span of the second half, accounting for all of the offense in the University of Southern Maine men's soccer team's 2-0 victory over Brandeis University on Sunday during the second day of the Adidas Kick-Off Classic at Wheaton College's Keefe Field.
 
The two-day, four-team tournament came to an end with the Huskies improving to 1-2 on the year and the Judges falling to 0-1-1. In his first start of the season, senior keeper Steve May (Brunswick, ME/Brunswick) made seven saves for Southern Maine, while junior Matt Lynch (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth) had five stops for Brandeis.
 
The Judges, who ended up with a 20-15 advantage in shots, had the majority of the quality scoring chances during the contest but came away empty. Instead, Johnson netted the winner at the 59:41 mark after switching the ball from his left foot to the right, in the process deking the defense and creating space to launch a shot from the top of the box. His try hit the far left netting. A little more than two minutes later, Johnson sent a left-footed attempt from the endline off the far post and in to create a two-goal cushion for his team.
 
With nearly 4:30 remaining in regulation, Brandeis had four successive opportunities to break on the board, but sophomore Luke Teece (Tucson, AZ/University) hit the left post during the sequence before following up by being denied by a May save.
 
Midway through the opening half, a Brandeis player clanged the left post, which led to a rush in the other direction, but Southern Maine junior Alex Burnham's (North Yarmouth, ME/Greely) back-to-back shots were both turned away by Lynch. With five and a half minutes to go in the period, Johnson's attempt was pushed aside by a diving Lynch.
 
Brandeis opened the second half with two good opportunities in the opening 14 minutes, but May stopped a point-blank shot during the 54th minute before Teece rolled the ball past the left post in the 59th minute.