NEWTON, Mass. – On a night in which Mount Ida celebrated the careers of six graduating seniors, the Mustangs also battled Brandeis University in a non-conference men's soccer contest and kept pace with the Judges, ranked 3rd in New England, until the final minutes.
Senior Joe Casey (Merrimack, Mass.) got the start in his final regular season game as a Mustang, and played exceptionally well, making seven saves, but Brandeis got a late goal in the 76th minute to break a scoreless tie and emerge with a 1-0 victory.
Along with Casey, Mount Ida recognized seniors Tim Gil (Lowell, Mass.), Steve MacDonald (Medford, Mass.), Dave Miller (Randolph, Mass.), Carlos Rojas (Stamford, Conn.) and Kevin McKeon (Santa Rosa, Calif.).
Brandeis junior Michael Soboff (Framingham, Mass.) provided the only offense of the night, breaking the deadlock in the 76th minute when he slotted home his fifth goal of the season on the back end of a give-and-go.
Soboff fed Zach Vieira (Andover, Mass.) on the edge of the box and then made the run himself, receiving the return pass from his teammate, who grabbed his second assist of the season.
Mount Ida had a great chance to tie the game in the waning moments when a free kick attempt by Gil sailed just over the crossbar.
It was a Mustang freshman making a standout play in the first half, as Tyler Grothusen (Ramsey, N.J.) cleared a ball off the line from the foot of Brandeis senior Sam Ocel (North Attleboro, Mass.).
Casey flashed his gloves several times in the second half, in which he had five saves, including one on a point-blank attempt by freshman Evan Jastremski (Marshfield, Mass.).
Junior goalie Joe Graffy (Concord, N.H.) needed to make just one stop to collect the shutout victory, as Mount Ida was outshot 19-3 in the contest. The Judges had a 7-1 edge from the corner flag as well.
"This was a good team that we played and we have no complaints about this game. We will absolutely take this result," said Head Coach Joe Campbell, in his fourth season.
Campbell and the Mustangs will use this tough test as a warm-up for their next game, which comes on Sunday afternoon in Northfield, Vt. That's the site of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) quarterfinal matchup between Mount Ida and Norwich, teams that played to a scoreless draw in Newton just two days ago.
Brandeis (12-4) breaks a two-game losing streak. They will close their season schedule with three home games in the University Athletic Association (UAA), starting with a matchup against Washington University on November 1st.