Facing the University of Rochester Yellowjackets and the Emory University Eagles, the women's soccer team have continued their impressive season. With 12 games behind them and only five left to go in the season, the Judges have had an amazing run. Looking ahead, the Judges will take on Westfield State University on Wednesday.


Emory 2, Judges 1

On Sunday, the Judges went head-to-head with Emory University, for the team’s senior game. Unfortunately, this game ended in a 2–1 defeat for the women. The Judges fell to 10–2–0 overall and 3-1 in the University Athletic Association.

With only 41 seconds of play, Emory took their first shot. The Judges' first shot came at 3:00 of play from Daria Bakhtiari ’21 from 20 yards out, but this straight-on goal was saved by Emory’s Danielle Staffin.

The Eagles started the game with a goal in the 10th minute as a result of a penalty kick by Madison Phaneuf for her sixth goal of the season, and doubled their lead in the 26th minute when Emory’s Danielle Darius scored her first goal of the season with the assist of Samantha Hilsee. After a hard fight from the Judges, they managed to pull one back with a goal with 10 minutes left to play; Bakhtiari was the player that scored for the Judges. This was her fifth goal of the season. Bakhtiari headed the ball off a Mastandrea corner kick. In the end, the Judges fought to catch up and equalize the score, but were unsuccessful.

During the game, both teams took 20 shots at the goal, while also both committing eight fouls each, proving to be a pretty even matchup. This game was the second in which the Judges gave up more than one goal of this season; it is  the first time they have given up this many goals in a single game since the first game of the season against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 


Rochester 0, Judges 4

On Friday, the Judges defeated the Yellowjackets 4–0 at home. The Judges were ranked 14th in Division III by the United Soccer Coaches and improved to 10–1 overall and 3-0 in the UAA. In the meantime, the Yellowjackets fell to 6–5–1 for the season.

The game started off pretty slowly, as the first shot did not come until the fifth minute when Bakhtiari shot from 25 yards. Although the shot was too high, this was the beginning of what became an impressive victory for the Judges. Both teams would continue to shoot off target for the first 44 minutes of play.

Ultimately, the Judges scored the only point that they would need to win the game in the first half, seeing as the Yellowjackets were unable to score at all during the game. Amanda Fernbach ’20 played a long ball in the 44th minute, followed by Daria Bakhtiari ’21 heading the ball in front of the net and Emma Spector ’20 scoring the goal. This was Spector’s first goal of the season. Just after the start of the second half, Lauren Mastandrea  took a shot that was initially saved until Sasha Sunday ’19 made the rebound. In the 73rd minute and the 79th minute, Hannah Maatallah ’19 and Spector scored goals respectively. This led to the Judges winning by an impressive four points — the only four points scored at all during the game.

During this game, Sierra Dana ’20 was a force to be reckoned with. She made four saves and was able to show off her third shutout of the season. This win marked the first time that the Judges have ever defeated the Yellowjackets in back-to-back seasons. 

With five games left in the season, the Judges are pushing through until the end. They have had an amazing run so far this season, and we cannot wait to see where they go from here. See them next when the take on Westfield State University on Wednesday. They will then have a six-day break before taking on Simmons College on Tuesday. They will then return to UAA action for their final three games of the season, taking on WashU, UChicago, and NYU.