WALTHAM, Mass. - The Brandeis University women's soccer team will have a chance to defend its 2008 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England championship. The Judges have earned the tournament's second seed and will face St. Joseph (Conn.) College on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
Brandeis, with a record of 10-7-2, returns to the ECAC tournament for the sixth-straight season under head coach Denise Dallamora, who is in her 29th season as head coach. The Judges finished fourth in the University Athletic Association (UAA) with a 3-3-1 record. They are led in scoring by sophomore forward Tiffany Pacheco of Rehoboth, who has eight goals and three assists for 19 points. She is tied for fifth in the UAA in scoring and fourth in goals. Junior midfielder Melissa Gorenkoff of Woodbury, N.Y., is second on the Judges in scoring with four goals and seven assists - tied for second-most in the conference - for 15 points. Junior goalkeeper Hillary Rosenzweig of Boca Raton, Fla., boasts a 0.90 goals-against average and an .812 save percentage, both fifth in the UAA, while her seven shutouts are third in the conference.
St. Joseph (Conn.) posted a 14-4-3 record, going 8-2-2 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC). The Blue Jays are paced by sophomore forward Paige Briglia of Watertown, Conn., who tallied 17 goals and two assists for 36 points this season, ranked fourth in the GNAC. Junior Cait Witham of Prospect, Conn., is second in the GNAC with a 0.85 goals-against average and leads the circuit with 11 shutouts.
This will be the first-ever meeting between Brandeis and St. Joseph (Conn.). The squads have one common opponent, with each having defeated UMass Boston by a 2-0 score this season. SJC has the only results against another team in the ECAC tournament field, losing 5-2 to Emmanuel in a conference game. Brandeis won its first ECAC tournament championship in 2007 with three straight shutouts, topping Keene State, 2-0, in the championship game.
The other first-round match-ups in the ECAC tournament pit #1 seed Keene State College against #8 Lasell College; #3 Fitchburg State vs. #6 Emmanuel College; and #4 University of New England vs. Curry College.