ROCHESTER, N.Y. (taken from a Rochester press release) -- The Brandeis women's soccer team picked up their second-straight University Athletic Association (UAA) draw today on a windy morning and afternoon in New York as the Judges battled the University of Rochester to a 1-1 decision after 110 minutes. The Judges, ranked No. 8 nationally in Division III by the NSCAA and No. 9 by D3soccer.com, move to 13-2-3, 2-2-2 in the UAA. UR goes to 8-6-2, 1-3-2 UAA.

Over the opening 27 minutes, the two teams traded one solid scoring opportunity each.  At 12:45, Brandeis senior Holly Szafran (Homewood, Ala./Newton North) sent a cross from the right wing into the wind and into the box, forcing Rochester keeper Madilynne Lee to make a punch save in the crease.

14 minutes later, UR earned a free kick after a Brandeis foul and nearly translated that into a goal.  Lee Stagg headed teammate Amanda Graboski's free kick from 30 yards just wide of the Brandeis net.

Visiting Brandeis opened the scoring in the 37th minute on a goal from senior Melissa Darling (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth).  Darling received an excellent through ball from sophomore forward Haliana Burhans (Charlotte, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) and then split two Rochester defenders and sent her shot from 14 yards out past Lee and into the bottom right corner of the net. The goal was Darling's second of the season and seventh of her career. 

At the half, Brandeis held a 5-3 advantage in shots, but UR had earned the periods only two corner kicks.

11 minutes into the second half, Rochester evened the score at 1-1 off a corner kick.  Laura Cowie-Haskell took the corner and sent the ball back to Katie Grasso who headed it back to the near post where Christina Feller took a shot on net that was saved but nearly trickled over the goal line.  After Brandeis junior keeper Alexis Grossman (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) couldn't control the save, Paige Gloster was there to slam in the rebound and tie the game.

At 66:21, Brandeis nearly regained the lead on its first shot of the second half.  After a fortunate bounce in the offensive zone led to a 1-on-1 chance at the edge of the crease by Jessica Morana (Shrewsbury, Mass. / Shrewsbury), her low hard shot towards the left corner was saved by a diving Lee in the UR net.

In the two overtimes, neither team could generate many chances with Brandeis earning the only shot and corner kick of the extra periods.

Overall, Lee made five saves for the Yellowjackets while Grossman made two saves for Brandeis.

The Judges return to action on Saturday against rival NYU for a Senior Day contest at 11 a.m.