Gordon Field proved to be a home fortress for the Judges on Tuesday night as both the men’s and women’s soccer teams defended their home turf against visiting opponents. The 25th-ranked women, playing in their home opener, downed the Bridgewater State Bears 3-1 to remain a perfect 3-0 on the year while the No. 7 men escaped with a 1-0 victory over Nichols College to push their record to 3-1.

No. 25 Judges 3 Bridgewater State 1

The women got all the offense they would need within the game’s first 25 minutes, twice beating Bridgewater State sophomore goalkeeper Lauren DeSousa to the bottom corner.

The scoring began in the ninth minute when forward Samantha Schwartz ’18 received a throw in near the left side of the 18-yard -box and spun away from a pair of defenders, sending a cross into the middle of the box. Though her pass was deflected on its way into the box, it fell to forward Lea McDaniel ’17, who easily beat DeSousa for her third goal in as many games. McDaniel now leads the team with three goals, scoring once in each of the Judges’ three victories.

In the 26th minute, Holly Szafran ’16 doubled the hosts’ lead with a strike from 20 yards out on a free kick, sending the ball around the wall and beyond the reach of a diving DeSousa.

Though the Judges held a two-goal lead, the visiting Bears pushed for a goal in the waning minutes of the first half but were unable to challenge the Judges’ back four or get a shot on goalkeeper Katy Lehmann ’16, making the first start of her career.

The hosts made a change in net after the 70th minute, bringing in goalkeeper Emma Marx ’19, who was immediately forced to punch away a Bridgewater State free kick in a diving save. The Bears made the hosts pay on the ensuing corner when Bears freshman forward Caitlin Rowley headed the ball into an empty net to halve the Judges’ lead. It took the Judges just 10 minutes to respond and put the game away, as midfielder Alec Spivack ’15 crossed the ball into the six-yard box, where forward Sasha Sunday ’19 easily netted the first goal of her collegiate career, handing the hosts the 3-1 final.

The Judges now lead the all-time series 6-2-1 with the victory.

No. 7 Judges 1 Nichols 0

The men continued the road to Coach Michael Coven’s 500thth career win, handing Coven his 498thth victory on the strength of a goal by defender Conor Lanahan ’16. Although the Judges outplayed the visitors, —holding a 22-4 shot advantage in the first half and a 33-6 advantage overall,— theybut struggled to put the ball into the back of the net.

After a trip to Texas that saw the Judges twice concede a goal within the first five minutes, defender Robbie Lynch ’16 noted that the squad stuck to their game defensively and did not let the opposition control the ball.

“We just settled in,” Lynch said after the game. “We just have to start right away; you can’t take a second off., Yyou have to be awake.”

“It was tough traveling;, we didn’t get our typical types of warm-ups in … [because] in Texas it was a bit different, whereas we were on like a softball field before the game [and] we didn’t get on the game field for 10 minutes or so. But today, we really wanted to put it to them, and they didn’t come at us too much here. It helped playing our opponent — they weren’t much of a threat going forward — we just need to start connecting more up top. … Sometimes when you play a team like that you succumb to their level;, you give in to their attitude a little bit and you start getting comfortable.”

Though the Judges took their tries on net, Bison senior goalkeeper Alex Geas stood tall, deflecting most of the Judges’ tries wide of the net and keeping the game scoreless at the half. The squad maintained the majority of possession down the wings but was unable to get good looks on target or follow up on shots to challenge Geas.

The hosts finally found the breakthrough they needed in the 69thth minute, when Nichols was whistled for a foul and the Judges were awarded an indirect free kick inside the 18-yard box. Midfielder Josh Ocel ’16 lined up over the ball to play it back to either Lynch or Lanahan, who both stood five yards behind the play.

“We had talked right there — me, Josh [Ocel] and Conor [Lanahan] — and it was a debate whether [Ocel] rolled it, I stopped it and [Lanahan] hit it; or if we just left it with one person,” Lynch explained. “We just kept it simple and [Ocel] rolled it to him; couple rotations on the ball and [Lanahan] kept it low, did a good job to get it on frame.”

Lanahan’s rocket found its way past the wall and beat Geas to the bottom right corner, his fifth-career goal and his first of the season.

The visitors pushed for an equalizer in the game’s final 20 minutes but were unable to put pressure on goalkeeper Kenn Fryer ’16, and their only real scoring opportunity was waved away for offsides.

The women’s squad will remain at home and welcome Regis College on Thursday, beginning at 4 p.m., while the men will travel to Clark University on Friday at 7 p.m. in search of Coven’s 499thth career victory.