NORTON, Mass. – The Men's Soccer team found themselves back in the win column Tuesday afternoon following a convincing 5-1 victory over Wheaton College (Mass.). The Judges, ranked 13th in Division III by United Soccer Coaches and 23rd by D3Soccer.com, improve to 6-2 on the season.
Wheaton opened the scoring with a free kick from the top of the box in the 3rd minute by Amara Sesay. Just two minutes later, junior forward Andrew Allen (Norfolk, Mass./King Phillip Regional) equalized with an assist from senior Patrick Flahive (Chatham, Ill./Worcester Acad.). It was all Brandeis from there with four more unanswered goals for the Judges.
Senior Mike Lynch (Weymouth, Mass. / Weymouth) added another off of a rebound in the 15th minute and senior Bernardo Ponte (Cambridge, Mass. / Cambridge Rindge and Latin) found the back of the net on a great through ball by sophomore Max Breiter (Lincoln, Mass./Lawrence Acad.) in the 26th minute. Lynch's goal put him ahead of all other Brandeis finishers with four on the season.
Brandeis wasn't done in the second half though, with sophomore Dylan Hennessy (New York, N.Y. / Northfield Mount Hermon) and junior Andrew Allen both beating the keeper on breakaways in the 59th and 60th minute, respectively. Hennessy's goal was assisted by senior Josh Ocel (North Attleboro, Mass. / Worcester Acad.). The assist gave Ocel his 6th on the season to go along with his pair of goals. His assist was the 39th of his career, second on the Judges' career list. Allen's goal was assisted by freshman Noah Gans (Newton, Mass. / Newton South).
The game was notable also for the coaches involved. Wheaton was guided by legendary Brandeis head coach Mike Coven, who took over on an interim basis when the Lyons' Matt Cushing passed away suddenly just before the season started. Coven's successor, Gabe Margolis, was Brandeis's assistant and associate head coach for 11 years. He is also a Wheaton graduate from the class of 2005 who played for Cushing for three years.
Brandeis returns to action on Sunday, October 1st as they travel to Cleveland to open up UAA competition against Case Western Reserve at 11am.
-Daniel Schupper '19