From Brandeis University Athletics
The Brandeis University men's soccer team rounded out its regular-season non-conference schedule tonight with a 5-0 victory over Mount Ida College. With the win, the Judges, ranked third in Division III by the NSCAA and fifth by D3soccer.com, improve to 15-1, matching the 1982 and 1985 teams for the best start in program history after 16 games. Mount Ida evens its record at 8-8-1.
The Judges, who turned in their 13th clean sheet of the season, got all the scoring they would need in the 18th minute from an unlikely source. Senior midfielder Andrew Bennie (Plymouth, Mass./Cape Cod Acad.) collected a failed Mount Ida clearing attempt just outside the box and struck a laser into past Mustang senior Mat Pils (Monroe, Conn./Masuk). Bennie was making his first collegiate start in Brandeis's last regular-season home game.
In the 29th minute, Brandeis senior Tyler Savonen (Orleans, Mass./Nauset Regional) continued his climb up the Judges' career scoring list. Savonen put a head to sophomore midfielder Josh Ocel's (North Attleboro, Mass./Worcester Acad.) corner kick and scored his ninth goal of the season and 35th of his career. Savonen moved into a tie for eighth place in career scoring with 86 points, while his 35 goals rank seventh. The assist was Ocel's team-leading seventh of the season.
Brandeis scored an own goal in the 30th minute, when sophomore Mike Lynch (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) crossed a short corner that was deflected in by a Mount Ida defender.
The final two goals came off the foot of junior forward Chris Bradley (East Brunswick, N.J./E. Brunswick). In the 34th minute, he took advantage of keeper misplay and found himself with a wide-open net. Finally, in the 82nd minute, he made a nice run along the goal line, beat a defender and chipped the ball over the goalie for his second career multi-goal game.
Brandeis senior Joe Graffy (Concord, N.H./Concord) made one save for the Judges, while junior Josh Hacunda (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) cleared a ball off the line late in the game. The Judges' 13 shutouts this season are one shy of a school record, set in their 1984 NCAA Tournament runner-up season. Pils finished with five saves for the Mustangs.