The NYU men’s and women’s soccer teams both finished off their seasons this Saturday against Brandeis University, with the men’s team falling 3-0 and the women’s team falling 1-0 — a bitter ending to what turned into a disappointing regular season for both teams. The women await a hopeful postseason bid, while this weekend likely marked the end of the men’s competition for
the year.

The women’s team fell in a tight, defensive game. Brandeis took the lead in the 35th minute when Judge players Jessica Morana set up Lee McDaniel for a goal. After that, the game was mostly dominated by two very strong defenses. In their previous four games, the Violets had only conceded one goal. Unfortunately, they were outmatched by Brandeis, who outshot NYU 13-6, had five shots on goal to NYU’s one, gained four more corners and committed three fewer fouls. For the Violets, the only shot on goal came from senior forward Melissa Menta in the 19th minute. Freshman forward Megan Carver had a chance to equalize in the final minutes, but she couldn’t put her shot on frame. Junior goalkeeper Cassie Steinberg finished off a strong regular season with four saves. Sophomore midfielder Steph Ho is anxious to see what the NCAA tournament committee will decide about the Violets’ postseason fate.

“We’ve worked really hard this season despite not getting the conference result we wanted,” Ho said. “Hopefully our efforts will pay off and we’ll get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Either way, I’m really proud of our team for overcoming adversity regarding a few last minute changes to the
coaching staff.”

A 3-0 loss to the Brandeis men’s team, ranked fifth in the nation, put an end to the men’s team. Brandeis took the lead in the 35th minute with a goal from Evan Jastremski. They dominated most of the game, outshooting NYU 24-6 and dominating 10-1 in shots
on goal.

Despite this, NYU was resilient and kept the game at 1-0 until very late in the match. Late in the second half the Violets switched to only three defenders hoping to equalize. Their strategical change led to Brandeis scoring in the 83rd from a volley by Zach Viera and in the 86th minute from a strike by Josh Ocel. Junior keeper Lucas Doucette will enter into his season with hope that the young players from this team can grow into a team that will compete for a league title next season.

“We have a great group of young guys and there is a lot of hope for the future of this program,” Doucette said. “The guys on this team are awesome.”

The game marked the end of a rough season for the men’s team. The team finished 6-12 and 1-6 in the conference. The team’s lone conference win came on Nov. 1 against Emory in Atlanta, where they prevailed 1-0.

Additional reporting by Bobby Wagner.

A version of this article appeared in the Nov. 9 print edition. Email Tony Schwab at [email protected].