CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (taken from a Lesley press release) – The Brandeis Women's Soccer team won their seventh-straight match today, fourth by shutout, as the Judges went on the road to defeat Lesley University, 1-0, in Boston. At 7-0, the Judges are off to their best start since 2004, when they went 8-0, and are two wins shy of the best start ever, set by the 2003 squad at 9-0.
Brandeis sophomore Haliana Burhans (Charlotte, Vt./Champain Valley Union) opened the scoring in the 25th minute of play for the Judges. Burhans, who subbed into the match just 34-seconds prior, settled a cross from junior Julia McDermott (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale) and finished with a line shot into the lower left corner of the goal for her third tally of the season. It marked the third goal in four games for Burhans and was her first career game-winner.
Brandeis senior Alec Spivack (Miami, Fla./Miami Palmetto) nearly had the first goal of the match just three minutes earlier when she greeted a pass from junior Cidney Moscovitch (Coral Springs, Fla./Coral Glades), took a touch inside the top right corner of the box and launched a right-footed shot with a defender on her hip but her blast hit just right of the nearside post.
The Judges kept the majority of possession in the first half as they held an 8-0 advantage in both shots and corner kick opportunities.
Lesley sophomore keeper Lilly Dononvan (Newburyport, Mass.) made two stops in the start before giving way to senior Jackie Berard (Coventry, R.I.) in the 35th minute.
The Lynx nearly knotted the game at 1-1 eight minutes into the second half when sophomore Samantha Turnbull (Holtsville, N.Y.) got her head on a corner kick by freshman Kai Morehead (Oxnard, Calif.), but the attempt by the 5-8 defender when just wide of the left post to keep the Lynx scoreless.
Lesley held possession in the attacking third for much of the second half but could not breakthrough while Berard kept the Judges offense at bay for the hosts. With five minutes to go, Berard made a sprawling save to her right on a drive by Spivack before senior defender Jen Collins (Edison, N.J.) blocked Brandeis' rebound attempt to keep the match at 1-0.
Berard finished with three saves in relief duty while Brandeis keeper Alexis Grossman (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) improved to 6-0-0 with her second shutout of the season.
The Judges, ranked No. 15 in the nation by the NSCAA and No. 18 by D3soccer.com, will kick off a five match homestand on Tuesday as they will play host to Babson College at 3 p.m.