Men’s soccer nabs pair victories

The No. 21 Washington University men’s soccer team rebounded from last Sunday’s loss to Emory University with a pair of wins at home over the weekend. On Friday night, the Bears defeated New York University 2-1 in overtime and then beat Brandeis University 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.

“That Emory game is always a tough game on our schedule, but to rebound and get these two big wins in conference really sets us up for the rest of the year,” senior co-captain Kevin Brege said.

Wash. U. jumped out to an early lead against NYU when freshman Patrick McLean scored just 33 seconds into the game. McLean, making his first career start while filling in for injured forward Harry Beddo, one-timed a pass from senior Pierre Hoppenot to put the Red and Green up 1-0. The goal was the first of McLean’s career and came in his sixth game for the Red and Green.

“[McLean] is more than a fill-in even if Harry is here,” Head Coach Joe Clarke said. “Pat McLean is going to be a special player in his time at Washington U.”

Wash. U. remained ahead until the 76th minute, when NYU junior Brandon Hintz sent a cross into the box that freshman Badr Bevaart headed in to tie the score at 1-1.

The Bears prevailed when junior Nat Zenner scored just 2:38 into the first overtime period. Off a free kick, junior Nick Karr lofted a pass into the NYU box that found its way through goalkeeper Mark Urbanski’s hands to Zenner, who sent it to the far corner for the game-winner.

“It was a great result for us,” co-captain Marshall Plow said. “We knew they like to push up hard and put a lot of pressure on teams from the game tape, so we managed in the first minute of the game to just capitalize on their flat defensive players and get behind them. It was great coaching by Joe.”

Wash. U. also got on the board early against Brandeis on Sunday. In the 11th minute of the game, sophomore Nick Wilbar struck a low cross that found senior Cliff Goldkind at the top of the Judges’ box. Goldkind buried a shot from 20 yards out past goalkeeper Sean O’Hare to give the Bears a 1-0 advantage.

Junior John Hengel added to the Bears’ lead in the 33rd minute when Brandeis turned the ball over on a goal kick, and Hengel netted a goal on a breakaway. The goal was Hengel’s team-leading seventh of the year.

Brandeis gained momentum in the second half and cut Wash. U.’s lead to 2-1 in the 55th minute when junior Jaime Batista scored on a give-and-go with junior Bill Murphy. However, the Bears’ defense managed to keep Brandeis off the board the rest of the way to hold on to another 2-1 victory.

“I thought we came out really well in the first half,” Brege said. “We came out really strong. We had a lot of new faces in the starting lineup, and we came out really hard. Then, in the second half, we kind of came out a little lackadaisically, the moment shifted a little bit, but we did a good job of battling through.”

The wins put the Red and Green record to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the UAA. The Bears are tied for second in the UAA with the University of Rochester and trail first-place Emory by three points with three games to play in conference.

“I couldn’t be happier with where we are right now,” Clarke said. “We’re having to battle a lot of injuries, and we’re having to move players aroundÉWe’re doing the best we can.”

Wash. U. returns to action on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Dominican University at Francis Field. Dominican enters the game on an 11-game winning streak and is 13-2 overall.